Discussion - During exercise, metabolism and heat production processes in the body increase significantly.

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Ben Davies                                                                                                          N.D.S.S

Discussion

During exercise, metabolism and heat production processes in the body increase

significantly. Yet, body core temperature remains almost unchanged. The body

balances the amount of heat produced during the exercise by losing the same

amount of heat, to it’s surroundings. More than 80% of the heat is lost through the

skin's surface while less than 20 % is actually used to drive your muscles.

Blood vessels near the surface of the skin dissipate heat. Therefore heat loss is effectively achieved by an increase in blood flow in the skin, where sweat is evaporated to cool your body.

This process is called vasodilation/evaporation cooling

Sweating is controlled by the temperature of the blood flowing to the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. When your temperature rises, you sweat more. During exercise, your heart beats rapidly to pump blood to bring oxygen to muscles and hot blood from muscles to the skin where heat can be dissipated.

When you stop exercising, your heart immediately slows down, so less blood is pumped to your skin, and your temperature rises higher and you sweat more. If you are already overheated, this extra heat can cause you to pass out.

This is particularly likely to happen when you exercise, particularly in hot weather, because food is converted to energy by a series of chemical reactions, each of which release heat.

That means that the harder you exercise, the higher your temperature can rise, and your body has to work very hard to keep your body from overheating.

During exercise, not only must your heart work extra to pump oxygen from blood in your lungs to your muscles, it must also pump heat in blood from your muscles to your skin.

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When your temperature rises above 102°F, your muscles often start to burn, when your temperature is over 104°F you will usually become short of breath and when your temperature rises above 105°F, you will often have signs of brain distress, such as a headache, blurred vision, ringing in your ears, dizziness, nausea and passing out.

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