What to do when it's too hot?

Experts say hot baths are a simple way to help people adapt to the summer heat, replacing exercise on days when outdoor temperatures are high.

The sudden rise in summer temperatures makes cycling, running and walking outdoors difficult, affecting many people's exercise schedules. Taking hot baths for several days in a row or taking a sauna for at least half an hour a day is good for health, especially for athletes.

Adapt to the weather

When moving in hot weather, the body generates internal heat. If not enough heat is released, people are at risk of heat exhaustion or even heat stroke. To dissipate this heat, the heart pumps warm blood out of the muscles and into the skin. The body also sweats to release more heat. However, in hot and humid weather, this process does not seem to keep up with the increase in internal body temperature. The heart beats faster, transporting more blood, and sweat accumulates on the skin, making each step difficult and the body hotter.

Heat acclimatization helps the body get used to exercising in hot weather. The amount of blood in the body increases, reducing stress on the heart. Sweat also comes out earlier and more, reducing the feeling of stress when the temperature increases.

This adaptation process is not easy. Athletes usually need about 10 sets of increasingly heavy training during the hottest part of the day. This is a difficult training regimen, not suitable for normal people. A simpler way is to take a hot bath.

Woman soaking in the bathtub. Photo: Freepik — Woman soaking in the bathtub. Photo: *Freepik*

Hot bath is like exercise

Andrew Greenfield, a specialist at Baptist California, said that hot water immersion is a passive method of acclimation. Normally, the body does not differentiate between heating from exercise and exposure to warm water or heat. Muscles will unconsciously increase temperature, heart rate will increase, sweat more. So this method can help acclimatize to heat.

In a 2015 study, scientists had 17 healthy men run on a treadmill at a moderate pace in a room at room temperature for 40 minutes. They then immersed the volunteers in water up to their necks at 33 degrees Celsius for the first 40 minutes, and then 40 degrees Celsius for the next 40 minutes.

The results showed that the hot water baths made the volunteers better adapted. When exercising in the heated lab, they sweated sooner and felt less hot than the control group. They also ran a longer distance, according to the treadmill.

Since then, scientists have tested volunteers of various ages. A 2021 study found that immersing people in cool water for 30 minutes after exercise, followed by hot water for 30 minutes, helped them better adapt to the temperature.

Michael Zurawlew, a researcher at Liverpool John Moores, recommends a water level of 40°C for those who want to practice hot bathing. The most suitable time for the first time is 20 minutes, then gradually increase.

“If you start to feel dizzy, lightheaded, or nauseous, stop and carefully get out of the tub,” he says.

According to Zurawlew, exercise and sweat before taking a shower, fill the water up to your neck and relax.

Thuc Linh (According to Washington Post )

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