Commonwealth Games, high temperatures take toll on athletes
An athlete’s body is fine tuned to withstand a lot of exertion and pressure. At times though excessive temperatures can have devastating effects on an athlete and in some rare cases may even cause death.
There are three things that can happen to an athlete while playing in very high heat, the first is heat cramping, second is heat exhaustion, and, the third and most deadly is heat stroke. All athletes should be trained in heat acclimatisation of some sort before entering territories of extreme heat. The people currently competing in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi are experiencing heat at unprecedented levels and it is beginning to affect their playing abilities.
All sports people are affected by the environment in some way or the other. For some it is breathing problems due to excessive levels of smog and pollution in the air. For others, it is having trouble with low oxygen levels in high altitudes and for some it is having to play in very high temperatures.
Heat is a very interesting topic in sports because it affects an athlete’s physical and mental states. If we look at the different types of problems with heat we may be able to find some solutions as well that would help people deal with competing in high temperatures.
The first way in which heat can affect an athlete is through heat cramps. These are cramps in a muscle that are directly caused by heat levels. The cramping is caused by a large loss of salt and water in a person’s body and this can be easily fixed by replacing the lost salt and water levels. Most athletes do this by drinking a lot of fluids containing electrolytes in very hot areas. This condition although painful does not have any long lasting or permanent damage.
The second type of condition that can affect an athlete due to high temperatures is heat exhaustion. This is again caused by a loss of salt and water and by direct exposure to high levels of heat. An athlete can feel dizziness, disorientation, nausea, experience vomiting and may even faint in severe cases. The treatment for this is to remove the athletes from the heat and cool down their bodies. This condition is more dangerous than cramps and can sometimes cause long lasting damage to a body.
The most dangerous type of heat illness is heat stroke and this can actually cause death in extreme cases. It occurs when a person is exposed to prolonged periods of temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius or 105 degree Fahrenheit. A person actually gets a high fever and the body’s core temperature needs to be lowered immediately. This can be done by immersing a person in a cool bath or putting them in a cool room and giving them plenty of fluids.
Athletes try their hardest not to get any one of these three dangerous conditions and that is why they can be seen constantly drinking energy drinks and water and taking breaks by sitting in the shade. When the body sweats people lose salt and water, an athlete loses a huge amount of this when they play a sport and heat causes this process to quicken.
The athletes at the current Delhi Commonwealth Games are facing this same problem. A lot of them described the mercury levels in the Indian capital as extremely high. The problem is that the temperature in Delhi at the moment is above 40 degree Celsius and there is also 80% humidity.
Humidity also causes a person to sweat excessively and it seems to be affecting several competitors from Europe. The England women’s hockey team coach has formally complained about the heat and was surprised that the teams were not warned about it beforehand. Even several Pakistani players, who have the same sort of climate in their country, were taken aback by the heat levels.
One of the best ways for athletes to combat high heat levels is to do heat acclimatisation training. This is a form of exercise where a player trains themselves to withstand higher and higher levels of heat. Eventually their bodies get used to the temperature and they do not get as affect by extreme heat levels as others. With increased heat training, we may see less high temperature related illnesses in the future.
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