Hyperthermia, but not dehydration, alters the electrical activity of the brain.

PURPOSE: Whole-body thermal and hydration clamps were used to evaluate their independent and combined impact on the electrical activity of the brain. It was hypothesised that those stresses would independently modify the electroencephalographic (EEG) responses, with those changes being greater when both stresses were superimposed. METHODS: Alpha and beta spectral data (eyes closed) were collected from the frontal, central-parietal and occipital cortices of both hemispheres in resting, healthy and habitually active males (N = 8; mean age 25 years). Three dehydration states were investigated (euhydrated and 3% and 5% mass decrements) in each of two thermal states (normothermia [mean body temperature 36.3 °C] and moderate hyperthermia [38.4 °C]). The combination of those passively induced states yielded six levels of physiological strain, with the EEG data from each level separately examined using repeated-measures ANOVA with planned contrasts. RESULTS: When averaged across the frontal cortices, alpha power was elevated relative to the occipital cortices during moderate hyperthermia (P = 0.049). Conversely, beta power was generally reduced during hyperthermia (P = 0.013). Neither the alpha nor beta power spectra responded to dehydration, nor did dehydration elevate the heat-induced responses (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Moderate hyperthermia, but neither mild nor moderate dehydration, appeared to independently alter brain electrical activity. Moreover, the combination of moderate hyperthermia with 5% dehydration did not further increase those changes. That outcome was interpreted to mean that, when those states were superimposed, the resulting neurophysiological changes could almost exclusively be attributed to the thermal impact per se, rather than to their combined influences.

Hyperthermia and dehydration: their independent and combined influences on physiological function during rest and exercise.

PURPOSE: This experiment was designed to quantify the independent and combined influences of hyperthermia and dehydration on effector control during rest and exercise. METHODS: To achieve that, whole-body hydration of healthy adults (N = 8) was manipulated into each of three states (euhydrated, 3% and 5% dehydrated), and then clamped within each of two thermal states (normothermia [mean body temperature: 36.1 °C] and moderate hyperthermia [mean body temperature: 38.2 °C]). Those treatment combinations provided six levels of physiological strain, with resting physiological data collected at each level. The effects of isothermal, thermally unclamped and incremental exercise were then investigated in normothermic individuals during each level of hydration. RESULTS: At rest, dehydration alone reduced urine flows by 83% (3% dehydrated) and 93% (5% dehydrated), while the reduction accompanying euhydrated hyperthermia was 86%. The sensitivities of renal water conservation to 3% dehydration (-21% mOsm-1 kg H2O-1) and moderate hyperthermia (-40% °C-1) were independent and powerful. Evidence was found for different renal mechanisms governing water conservation between those treatments. Cutaneous vasomotor and central cardiac responses were unresponsive to dehydration, but highly sensitive to passive thermal stress. Dehydration did not impair either whole-body or regional sweating during rest or exercise, and not even during incremental cycling to volitional exhaustion. CONCLUSION: In all instances, the physiological impact of these thermal- and hydration-state stresses was independently expressed, with no evidence of interactive influences. Renal water-conservation was independently and powerfully modified, exposing possible between-treatment differences in sodium reabsorption.

The independent influences of heat strain and dehydration upon cognition.

PURPOSE: Many researchers have addressed the potential effects of hyperthermia and dehydration on cognition, often revealing contradictory outcomes. A possible reason for this inconsistency is that experiments may have been inadequately designed for such effects. In this study, the impact of hyperthermia, dehydration and their combination on cognition were evaluated in eight young males, after accounting for a range of experimental limitations. METHODS: Passive heating and thermal clamping at two mean body temperatures (36.5, 38.5 °C) were performed under three hydration states (euhydrated, 3 and 5% dehydrated) to assess their effects on difficulty-matched working memory and visual perception tasks, and on a difficulty manipulated perceptual task. Data were analysed according to signal detection theory to isolate changes in response sensitivity, bias and speed. RESULTS: Neither moderate hyperthermia (P = 0.141) nor dehydration (P > 0.604) modified response sensitivity, nor did they significantly interact (P > 0.698). Therefore, the ability to distinguish correct from incorrect responses was unaffected. Nevertheless, hyperthermia, but not dehydration (P = 0.301), reduced the response bias (-0.08 versus 2.2 [normothermia]; P = 0.010) and reaction time (mean reduction 49 ms; P < 0.001), eliciting more liberal and faster responses (P = 0.010). Response bias was reduced for the memory relative to the perceptual task (P = 0.037), and this effect was enhanced during hyperthermia (P = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS: These observations imply that, once potentially confounding influences were controlled, moderate hyperthermia, significant dehydration and their combined effects had insufficient impact to impair cognition within the memory and perceptual domains tested. Nonetheless, moderate hyperthermia elicited more liberal and rapid responses.

Thermal performance trials on the habitability of private bushfire shelters: part 1.

This communication is the first of two in which specifications for private bushfire shelters were evaluated during human trials. The purpose of this investigation (series 1) was to test the hypothesis that shelters capable of maintaining the internal environment at, or below, a modified discomfort index of 39 °C would prevent a deep-body temperature elevation of >2 °C. This was tested over 96 trials during which eight men and eight women were exposed at rest (60 min) to three regulated shelter conditions satisfying that standard: 40 °C and 70 % relative humidity, 45 °C and 50 % relative humidity and 50 °C and 30 % relative humidity. Subjects were tested twice in each condition following exercise- and heat-induced dehydration (2 % body mass reduction) and pre-heating to each of two deep-body thermal states (37.5 and 38.5 °C). Participants presented well rested and euhydrated, and pre-treatments successfully achieved the thermal and hydration targets prior to exposure. Auditory canal temperatures declined as exposures commenced, with subsequent rises of >0.5 °C not evident within any trial. However, each increment in air temperature elicited a significant elevation in the respective within-trial mean auditory canal temperature (37.4, 37.7 and 37.9 °C) and heart rate (103, 116 and 122 beats.min(-1)) when subjects were moderately hyperthermic (all P < 0.05). Nevertheless, on average, subjects successfully defended deep-body temperature at levels significantly below those associated with heat illness, and it was concluded that this thermal specification for bushfire shelters appeared adequate, providing the physical characteristics of the internal air remained stable.

Thermal performance trials on the habitability of private bushfire shelters: part 2.

In the preceding communication, an investigation was described in which the thermal specifications for the design of private bushfire shelters were evaluated. Since those trials were undertaken with the thermal characteristics of the air clamped, survival uncertainty persisted if the internal ambient conditions were progressively changing, as would occur within an air-tight shelter. Therefore, two further investigations were performed. In the first, changes in the physical properties of air within an air-tight shelter simulator (1.2 m(3)), initially equilibrated to 43.7 °C and 42.3 % relative humidity, were studied when pre-heated, well-hydrated males were sealed inside (N = 16; 60 min; experimental series 2). Air temperature and humidity moved sigmoidally to 40.5 °C (standard deviation (SD), 0.5) and 90.1 % (SD, 2.1). Oxygen and carbon dioxide fractional concentrations changed reciprocally, with respective terminal averages of 16.7 % (SD, 0.8) and 3.94 % (SD, 0.72). Deep-body temperature rose beyond the tenth minute to a terminal mean of 39.3 °C (SD, 0.2). In the third experimental series, these air temperature and humidity changes were reproduced in trials commencing at two different thermal states (40 °C and 70 % relative humidity; 45 °C and 50 % relative humidity). Sixteen pre-heated and slightly dehydrated men and women were investigated. In neither condition did the auditory canal temperature of any individual change by more than 2 °C or exceed 40 °C. It may be concluded, within the limits of these experiments, that the recommended thermal and dimensional specifications for bushfire shelters can provide tenable conditions for healthy, young adults.