Short-term (5-day) heat acclimation induced effective adaptations, some of which were more pronounced after fluid-regulatory strain from permissive dehydration, and not attributable to dehydration effects on body temperature.

Abstract:Most advice for heat adaptation is to use long-term (>10 d) regimes, in which hydration status is maintained. We tested the hypothesis that short-term (5-day) heat acclimation would confer substantial improvements in physiological strain and exercise tolerance for exercise in the heat, and fluid regulatory strain provides a thermally-independent stimulus for such adaptations. Ten moderately-fit males were heat acclimated using controlled hyperthermia (rectal temperature 38.5°C) for 90 min on five consecutive days (T a = 40°C, 60% RH), on two occasions separated by a five-week washout, in a randomly assigned, cross-over design; one with euhydration (EUH) and one with dehydration (DEH) during acclimation bouts. One week before, then on the 2 nd day after each acclimation regime, a heat stress test (HST) was completed, comprising cycling at 40% peak power output for 90 min (T a = 35°C, 60% RH), before incrementing to exhaustion. Plasma volume (PV) at rest was measured using CO rebreathing. Acclimation exercise-induced response of[aldo] p became more pronounced across DEH (  178 pg . mL -1 ; 95%CI: 33 to 324) but not EUH (  -47 pg . mL -1 : -209 to 115) and this difference was significant (P=0.02).Compared to EUH, permissive DEH during acclimation bouts conferred larger acclimation-induced increases in resting PV (4.1%: -1.5 to 9.8%; P=0.06), F Q  (4.2: 0.7 to 7.8 ml . min -1. 100 ml -1 ; P=0.009), FVC (0.06: 0.02 to 0.10 ml . 100ml Tissue -1. min -1. mmHg -1 ; P=0.006) and decreased end-exercise c f by 17% (19: -29 to 9 b·min-1; P=0.05). In conclusion, short-term (5-day) heat acclimation was effective with several adaptations more pronounced after fluid-regulatory strain from a dehydration acclimation regime.

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