Abstract

CAPITAN-JIMENEZ, Catalina  and  ARAGON-VARGAS, Luis Fernando. Thirst perception during exercise and post exercise ad libitum rehydration in dry and humid heat. Pensar en Movimiento [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.2, 31479. ISSN 1659-4436.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/pensarmov.v16i2.31479.

Capitán-Jiménez, C. & Aragón-Vargas, L.F. (2018). Thirst perception during exercise and post exercise ad libitum rehydration in dry and humid heat. PENSAR EN MOVIMIENTO: Revista de Ciencias del Ejercicio y la Salud, 16(2), 1-18. This experimental study was designed to evaluate whether subjective perceptions of thirst and heat and voluntary water intake are different in two distinct environmental conditions but equivalent in terms of the thermal stress index, during exercise and post-exercise ad libitum rehydration. Methods: 14 participants exercised twice in a climate controlled room (WBGT≈28.5°C): once for dry heat (DRY, DBT=33.8°C, RH=53%) and once for humid heat (HUM, DBT=32.1°C and RH=67%), without fluid intake, until reaching dehydration equivalent to 4% BM. Perceptions of thirst, heat, fullness and colic were measured every 30 min during exercise. Subsequently, participants ingested water ad libitum for 90 minutes. Voluntary intake of water was also measured. Results: During exercise, thirst perception was the same for both conditions (DRY 64.44±23.38, HUM 67.32±20.41mm, p=0.409); however, it increased over time (p=0.0001). The same situation happened with heat perception: there was no difference between conditions (DRY 6.34±0.50, HUM 6.40±0.37ua, p=0.423), but it also increased over time (p=0.001). At the end of rehydration, heat perception was greater for dry heat (5.3 ± 0.2ua) than for moist heat (4.7 ± 0.2ua, p=0.006). At the end of the exercise, thirst (85.8 ± 19.4mm) showed no significant correlation with actual dehydration (3.82 ± 0.18% BM, r=-0.14, p=0.48) or with voluntary wáter intake (1843 ± 587 ml, r=-0.04, p=0.85). There was no correlation between the actual sweat loss (2766 ± 700 ml) and the voluntary water intake (r=0.16, p=0.42). Ratio between net fluid balance and thirst perception was R2 =0.70 (p=0.001). Conclusions: thirst and heat perceptions were the same when exercising in two different environmental conditions with the same level of heat stress. The thirst perception scale was able to detect progressive dehydration in a consistent manner: the greater the dehydration over time, the greater the thirst. However, the results of this study do not support the theory that voluntary water intake is adequate to replenish sweat loss after exercise.

Keywords : dehydration; thirst perception; thermal stress; voluntary intake.

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