Citation

González-Alonso J, Crandall CG, Johnson JM. J. Physiol. 2008; 586(1): 45-53.

Affiliation

Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK. j.gonzalez-alonso@brunel.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, The Physiological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1113/jphysiol.2007.142158

PMID

17855754

PMCID

PMC2375553

Abstract

Exercise in the heat can pose a severe challenge to human cardiovascular control, and thus the provision of oxygen to exercising muscles and vital organs, because of enhanced thermoregulatory demand for skin blood flow coupled with dehydration and hyperthermia. Cardiovascular strain, typified by reductions in cardiac output, skin and locomotor muscle blood flow and systemic and muscle oxygen delivery accompanies marked dehydration and hyperthermia during prolonged and intense exercise characteristic of many summer Olympic events. This review focuses on how the cardiovascular system is regulated when exercising in the heat and how restrictions in locomotor skeletal muscle and/or skin perfusion might limit athletic performance in hot environments.

Language: en