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Up until a few years ago, I could've seen doing this as a worthwhile survival exercise, and to know that I can do it. Then, without trying, I overheated simply
by neilv 1y ago
Up until a few years ago, I could've seen doing this as a worthwhile survival exercise, and to know that I can do it.
Then, without trying, I overheated simply by exercising in a room that I didn't know was 95F.
(Since I've mostly only lived in cold/moderate climates, and had never learned how risky 95F is.)
It was highly unpleasant, in an uh-oh, I can see how people die this way, kind of way.
Now, I actively avoid anywhere much hotter than about 80F.
Just last week, I declined a very interesting recruiting outreach from a CEO in Austin, telling him, sorry, but the weather in Texas is just too hot for me.
I'm ready to repurpose the term "special snowflake".
> A young woman seems to be walking around in a daze. [...] I don't think they believed their guidebooks about how uncomfortably hot it can get in Death Valley.
I hope someone helped the dazed person with first aid. And that other people take the heat seriously. It's right there in the name: Death Valley.
- JKCalhoun 1y agoBike riding in the heat once caused me to come close to overheating. Stopping, finding shade, pouring water over my head and laying down finally brought my core temperature down in time. I saw the same things begin to happen to my wife some years later when bike riding in the heat. I did the same for her and all was well.
- dkarl 1y agoYour reaction to heat is highly dependent on acclimation. I live in Texas and have to re-acclimate every year. Exercising on the first 85º+ day of the year is miserable, but a month later 85º feels quite tolerable, and 95º is doable, though performance suffers. I grew up playing baseball and tennis in 95-100º weather with high humidity routinely. It wasn't pleasant, but nobody was getting heatstroke, nobody was cancelling games or practices. But on a visit to Montana a few summers ago, I saw that kids' baseball games had been cancelled because the temperatures had reach a dangerous level: 90º (in dry mountain air.) Same human beings, different levels of acclimation, very different safety thresholds. I've never been in the temperatures described in this article, though, and I don't know what the physical limits of acclimation are.
- readthenotes1 1y agoThe first exercise at 105⁰ seems insane. A week later bearable. I recall with some amusement thinking I was coming down with heat stroke one summerbecause the light wind felt chilly on my skin. But then I realized it was only 95 degrees
- Jtsummers 1y agoThe "trick" I used in GA (not quite as hot as TX, but as humid in that part of GA) was to exercise outside year round. It was rarely so cold that winter running was a problem, and as the temperatures warm up or cool down you naturally get acclimated to the new season. It's worked here in CO as well (though due to an injury I didn't this past winter) with getting used to very cold temperatures (I wouldn't exercise outdoors on our very coldest days, but that's about 1-2 weeks out of the entire winter that I'd stick to indoor only training).
- GJim 1y ago> Your reaction to heat is highly dependent on acclimation. And the other way around. I once went to a conference, held in early spring, at a Greek hotel. It was 15 C and the hotel staff had closed the pool as it was "too cold" to swim. Us Brits were puzzled. The Finns were utterly baffled.
- arethuza 1y agoHere in Scotland, the first sunny day in spring over 10C and you start seeing people in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops...
- lazide 1y agoMichigan, anywhere 0C and above is shorts and a t-shirt weather after a long winter!
- quickthrowman 1y agoIf the pool is heated, swimming in 15C weather would be fine. If not, I wouldn’t swim in 15C water without spending time in a sauna or hot tub before jumping in; surfers wear wetsuits when the water is that temperature.
- js2 1y agoWhat really matters is the wet bulb temp. For example, the Death Valley high today was 114°F (45°C) but at an RH of only 3%. That gives a wet bulb temp of ~ 65°F which isn't a problem with acclimation and adequate hydration. Now if it had been 50% RH, the web bulb temp would be > 96°F which is not survivable by humans for very long because no amount of sweating in that humidity will cool you down.
- guenthert 1y agoThat's 114°F in the shade. There is no shade in the desert though ... Don't want to be projecting, but first time I went to Death Valley happened to be in August. I saw dunes from the car and thought I had to walk up there. Fifteen minutes later I had an unbearable headache and quickly headed back. Sombreros don't look all that ridiculous to me anymore.
- lazyasciiart 1y agoA young couple and their baby and dog died of overheating on a day hike in California a few years ago. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/12/tragic-death-young-california-family-hike https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/12/tragic-death...
- close04 1y agoTaking a 1 year old on an 8mi/13km hike in an area where temps go to 109F/43C, with inadequate clothing and only 2.5l of water for 2 adults, the child, and the dog is insane.
- tbrownaw 1y ago> Now, I actively avoid anywhere much hotter than about 80F. It is currently - well after sunset - 82°F outside. A couple days ago it was mid-90s in the afternoon, and it should get back to that after the current weather passes in another few days. Mowing the yard when it's high 90s and muggy and sunny is not as rare an occurrence as I might like.
- giantg2 1y agoThe real problem is HVAC. You are acclimated, but you acclimated to the thing you spend the most time time. If you want to get used to higher temperatures, spend about 2 weeks without AC, or with the AC only kicking on at a high temperature.