Optimal internal temperatures

Like most race cars, your body is a finely-tuned machine, which means that it performs best with very specific conditions. Both as a means of protection and performance, your body operates at optimal levels when your internal temperature is between 98-102 degrees. That's a FOUR-degree range! In fact, getting yourself up to 104 degrees constitutes a medical emergency!

If the overall temperature range is so narrow to start, you can see that small changes in internal temperature can affect your athletic performance in profound and significant ways. You've surely experienced this already, when you compete in hot/humid conditions versus cooler environments- you feel lethargic, and are considerably slower and less explosive in the hot weather. World records- in sports like the marathon- are set on cool days, not balmy 80 degree ones.

Strategies that the body use to control internal temperature include sweating, fatigue/resting, hydrating, and seeking cooler temperatures. But if you are competing on a hot day and it's only halftime, sweat may not be helpful (if it's too hot to provide evaporative cooling), resting may not be an option (if you are in the middle of a game, you still have to play), the majority of hydrating should have been done prior to the game, and seeking cooler temperatures may not be an option (you can't move the game indoors).

Heat dumping, to actively assist the body radiate internal heat out of the body, is a prime alternative in cases like this to help maintain internal temperatures within that optimal range to maintain athletic performance and thermal comfort.

#heatdumping #palmcooling #thermoregulation