Michael attended our Laboratory at Newcastle University over a 4 week period scheduling in 7 heat sessions. The block was in preparation for refereeing games at the forthcoming FIFA Club World Cup football tournament in USA.
Michael pictured training in the Environmental Chamber during a series of heat acclimation sessions for the upcoming Club World Cup.
English referee Michael Oliver in action during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, round of 16 match between Flamengo and Bayer Munich, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami where temperatures were reported as highs of 33oC and humidity was 60%RH (Heat stress index = 40oC).
Jarlath, recently came in for a chat about how to prepare for the hot conditions in the World Championship 100km running race*. This was held in India in a town named Bengaluru which is at 920 metres in altitude. The combination of altitude and that the race took place in December meant that temperatures were not as extreme as they can be in India, however peak temperatures reached around 27oC which is still a considerable heat stress over a long period of time. In a field of over 250 athletes from 40 countries, Jarlath (GBR) finished 9th overall (in a time of 6:51:20h) and second GBR male, helping the men’s team claim bronze medals. In this question & answer we will ask him how he got on and what strategies he used to help him in the environment.
*2024 IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) and WMA (World Masters Championships) 100km World Championships in Bengaluru India.
Jarlath pictured during the event wearing his own neck cooling system and dousing himself in water.
In this new paper, published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, we took a multi-study approach to determine the optimal dose of L-menthol applied as a mouthrinse in hot environments. A project involving previous UG student Joe Clark and MSc student Godi Jibi who contributed to a large part of the data collection, was written in collaboration with long term collaborator Dr Mark Waldron (Swansea University) and Dr Martin Barwood (Leeds Trinity). We hope this clarifies dose strategies for practitioners & investigators.
A model figure extracted from the published paper below illustrates the thermo-behavioural exercise responses (red=work done; green = peak power achieved) in line with micro- and milli- molar concentrations required to activate TRPM8 channel activity (black) – the primary molecular target for L-menthol. We found that the optimal dose is between 0.01 – 0.1% (0.6 and 6 mM respectively) which will be useful to practitioners, athletes and research scientists who wish to explore its thermo-effectiveness across a range of situations and environments.
Figure 5 – Determination of L-menthol’s optimal dose. L-menthol’s molecular target TRPM8 channel activation data (black circles) as a % of total activation (data presented is adapted from McKemy et al., 2002). L-menthol ergogenic modulation of exercise peak power associated with RPE-16 (green circles) and total work at RPE-16 (red circles), as a % above baseline placebo tests. Grey shaded box represents the “optimal” performance range. Dashed line represents L-menthol’s alternative actions as an irritant, possibly evoking increase in performance. Exercise was completed in 35 oC / 40 RH% environment.
MSc student Molly Carruthers has just completed a project working with Ollie (PhD student) examining the accuracy of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) in hot environments. They examined a range of temperatures at rest and during light physical activity, data which will feed into future publications and impact public health recommendations particularly for diabetic populations. Molly has been fantastic in the lab and we wish her success in her future ventures.
UG students Vicky Catterall and Holly Youd undertook a project in the environmental chamber this year exploring physiological and metabolic responses to simulated heat wave events. They examined a range of outcome measures in a range of conditions from 21-40 degrees centigrade. The data will feed into a larger project which will inform future public health concerns in a climate that increasingly demonstrates greater instability and increased heat wave intensity, duration and frequency globally. Vicky won the class prize for her written dissertation exploring this question – well done Vicky!
Vicky designed an excellent infographic to visualise the key findings from the project see left.
Projected rises in body core temperature are shown after sedentary and light physical activity in healthy populations.
Amy & Rebecca are MSc students exploring the effects of dehydration on cardiac function. They have been working in the lab since January and aim to complete data collection by the end of July. Clinical Echocardiographer Prof Chris Eggett facilitated training the students in taking two specific measures using the echo ultrasound equipment and recording accurate ECG. A challenging project requiring exercise in extreme heat (40 degrees centigrade) for 3-4hrs and technically demanding taking these measures in this environment.
Amy & Rebecca both plan to travel after their MSc and may end up pursuing their interests in thermal physiology in some lab in Australia! Enjoy the travels!
Dr Owen Jeffries chaired a session with Dr Irene Di Gulio (Kings College London) on Human exercise and environmental physiology at the recent joint Physiological Society and Scandinavian Physiological Society joint conference at Northumbria University in July 2024. A great session with some great speakers and interesting discussion exploring the recent Physiological Society’s report on Heat Resilience strategy.
Pictured below are the speakers and organising team for our small special interest group.
Lee presented is first PhD study exploring the effect of airflow in thermoregulation, up in Glasgow at ECSS. It was a great first conference to attend and lots of great science.
Recent publication sees Dr Owen Jeffries (thermal physiologist) collaborate with Dr Stephen Blenkinsop (climate scientist) from the School of Engineering to address a recent call in the Journal of Applied Physiology regarding better alignment between the disciplines to answer the wider questions facing us as a result of a changing climate.
In this viewpoint article we discuss the need for wider collaboration to understand heat-health risks nationally, regionally, and at the local level to provide more policy-relevant extreme heat scenarios for the benefit of public health.
This work is part of a small exploratory project funded by the Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund.
Issy Davis (BS.c student) and Oliver Milard (MS.c. student) completed a project in the lab this year with two aims. Firstly they explored the effect of temperature on steady state and intermittent exercise, quantifying thermoregulatory, physiological and metabolic responses. Secondly they used new wearable technology to explore reliability in reporting body core temperature when compared to gold-standard invasive thermometry.
Oliver is pursuing his interests by looking for future PhD projects and we wish him good luck!
