I was spectating at the Edinburgh Marathon this weekend and observed many runners pouring
water over their heads, down their necks etc. Something was nagging in the back of my mind
about this and a comment from a friend confirmed this. We had both read or heard somewhere
that this was counter productive. I mentioned this today to another friend and she came up with a
suggestion that I think was what I was thinking about.
When the body is hot, our cappileries are enlarged to help the heat escape our bodies. Pouring
cold water over these vessels causes them to contract. Therefore they allow less heat loss.
Effectively, we are creating an insulation blanket keeping the heat in. Now I’m not qualified to say
this is in fact true, but I can understand that it could be true. Comments?
