Exercise and recovery in a hot environment initiated cool-seeking behaviour earlier than in a moderate environment (7 vs 14 min, p<0.01), without altering afferent signal contributions.
Does heat stress augment cool-seeking behaviour during exercise and recovery in healthy adults?
Heat stress increases the frequency and duration of cool-seeking behavior during exercise and recovery, though the relative physiological drivers of this behavior remain unchanged.
Absolute Event Rate: 7% vs 14%
p-value: p=<0.01
INTRODUCTION: Cool-seeking behaviour (CSB) aims to mitigate the impacts of heat stress, yet our understanding of the afferent signals (i.e., skin temperature (Tsk), core temperature (Tcore), and skin wettedness (Wsk)) that contribute to decisions to engage in CSB during exercise and recovery is limited to moderate environments. PURPOSE: To test the hypotheses that during exercise 1) CSB is initiated earlier, more frequently and for longer total duration in hot (HS) vs moderate (MOD) environments and 2) the relative contribution of Tsk and Wsk to CSB would increase and Tcore would decrease in HS vs MOD environments. METHOD: Twelve healthy adults (6F, 24±5 y, 177±7 cm, 75±8 kg, 38±8 ml/kg/min estimated VO2max) completed a MOD (23.8±0.8°C; 35.1± 4.6% RH; 7.6±1.2 g/m³) and HS (33.8 ±0.6°C, p0.05). By end EX, HS elicited a higher Tsk (HS: 35.4±0.5; MOD: 33.2±0.5ºC, p0.05). By end REC, Tcore (HS: 37.5±0.3; MOD: 37.1±0.3ºC, p=0.01), Tsk (HS: 35.0±0.6; MOD: 32.6±0.4ºC, p0.05). There were no differences in the relative contributions of Tcore, Tsk and Wsk to CSB between HS (Tcore: 26±12%, Tsk: 42±22%, Wsk: 31±27%) and MOD (Tcore: 28±19%, Tsk: 39±20%, Wsk: 32±22% p>0.13). CONCLUSION: Exercise and recovery in the heat augments CSB compared to a more moderate environment. Despite this, no significant differences in the relative contributions of the afferent physiological signals driving this behaviour were observed. Funding Sources: American Physiological Society Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Rankin et al. (Fri,) conducted a other in Healthy adults (n=12). Hot environment (33.8°C) vs. Moderate environment (23.8°C) was evaluated on Time to first initiation of cool-seeking behaviour (p=<0.01). Exercise and recovery in a hot environment initiated cool-seeking behaviour earlier than in a moderate environment (7 vs 14 min, p<0.01), without altering afferent signal contributions.