Sport and heat: a dangerous combination?
It’s a beautiful day out and you’re got a bit of time to go and practice your favourite sport. But you don’t realise how hot it is and after the first few minutes of exercise, your legs start to feel heavy, you start sweating, go pale, and end up feeling sick or dizzy: … Take care! You might be experiencing heatstroke.
This syndrome is characterised by an increase in body temperature due to the body not properly adapting to prolonged sun exposure, high temperatures or intense physical activity in very hot, humid or poorly ventilated environments.
It affects us when we play sport and the body does not regulate its temperature quickly enough in relation to the physical effort we are making and attempts to lose the heat as quickly as possible. In order to do this, the body increases vasodilation and the excretion of fluids such as sweat. This means it is easier for hydroelectrolytic imbalance to take place, and for us to feel the typical dizziness commonly known as “sunstroke” or “heatstroke”.
Sport in the summer time. Factors to bear in mind
When we play sport during the summer, we need to remember a series of important factors for preventing or mitigating the effects of heatstroke:
- Ambient temperature: very hot environments can favour dehydration and interfere with the correct functioning of the organic baroreceptors that are responsible for adapting our body temperature. This means that in dry environments the body can’t cool itself quickly enough in relation to our physical efforts, as the information it receives tells it that the concentration of water is below the typical levels. It will therefore try to adapt faster, exposing the body to conditions of risk.
- Body hydration: the concentration of water in our tissues has a direct influence, as this determines the maximum level of effort our bodies can make.
- Level of physical effort: when the ambient temperature is more comfortable, our bodies can work harder, as from a psychosomatic point of view, we perceive success as being easier to achieve. Failure to adapt our individual characteristics to our physical effort is a mistake that can have real consequences, with dehydration that can lead not just to dizziness, but also to low blood pressure, tachycardia and organ failure.
Recommendations for playing your favourite sport
These measures are based on on the sufficient, continuous replacement of fluids during physical activity. Always remember these points:
- Drink fluids: the necessary amount of hydration takes body weight into account, but also water loss. Drink greater amounts and drink continuously, not just because of the work your body is doing, but also because of the sweat you will lose.
- Avoid high temperatures and moderate your physical effort.
- Rest: don’t forget to stop and rest in cool, ventilated areas to help your body adapt more easily to the high temperatures. And remember that sleeping well has positive effects for our skin.
- Protect yourself with lightweight clothes: wear loose-fitting, breathable clothes so that the evaporation of sweat and heat loss are gradual.
- Light meals: a heavy diet with foods that take a long time to digest can affect you and increase the risk of heatstroke symptoms. If you eat large meals, more blood flows to the digestive system for a longer time, so you need to wait longer after eating before you exercise to avoid sharp rises in vasodilation. If you’re going to play sport, it’s best to eat light meals.
However, we don’t want you thinking that sport and summer don’t go together. If you follow this advice, listen to your body and use a bit of common sense, you can enjoy your favourite sport even at the hottest time of year.
