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Re: [RC] [RC] Humidity & Sweating - heidiThe part you may be missing is where the inefficiently cooled (that is, still overheating) body says "gosh, still too hot, better sweat MORE". I think that's what is going on, anyway. Actually, one still sweats an incredible amount in low humidity--it just doesn't hang around on the skin where one notices it. :-) But I KNOW all that liquid I drink on hot days in a dry climate has to go somewhere, because I sure as heck don't have to pee! :-) That said, I think the thing that is not considered here is that biological organisms are far more complex than just the numbers of liters in and the numbers of liters out, or even measuring the grams of lytes in and out. Bottom line--the living cells only function properly in a very narrow temperature range. The horse that sweats and achieves cooling by doing so continues to function in a physiologically normal manner, barring some other extreme circumstance. The horse that sweats and then cooks in his own juices because the sweat can't evaporate can have some serious metabolic problems just due to the temperature alone. Even having to warm up a big drink of water helps to dissipate that body heat to some small extent. One can get into trouble extrapolating between species, but I know that personally, it also makes a HUGE difference to me whether I am ingesting coolish water that helps to absorb some of my body heat vs water that has been in my pommel bag long enough on a hot day to be somewhere in the same temperature range as the ambient temperature and my horse's body! The latter may replace my sweat losses just as effectively, but in no way does it have the same cooling effect! By the same token, I think horses do better when they can drink out of streams or springs that remain somewhat cool, or if the water truck just came around with a fresh fill-up for the tanks, than they do if the water has been sitting there several hours in a tank in the sunshine on a hot day... Heidi ============================================================ REAL endurance is reading the LD vs. Endurance thread/debate every 3 months!!! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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