Science, heat dispersion: a trick to winning in sports

The ability to dissipate heat determines better results in sports performance: this ability depends on the physical and physiological characteristics of the athlete. He was the last to discover it Dartmouth College Researchposted in PLOS ONE Magazine. In fact, human physiology affects athletic performance depending on the climate. According to the data, an analysis of nearly 200 runners in triathlon events over two decades found that taller, leaner runners with long limbs tended to excel in triathlon events, held in warm climates, while marathon runners with stockier builds and shorter limbs fared better. . in cold climates. This physiological feature has been observed In men, but not in women. Research indicates that performance, particularly in the marathon portion of the event, is related to how well an athlete’s physique adapts to shedding or retaining heat in certain climates. This study is one of the few studies linking human physiology to the so-called Bergman and Allen rulesthat predict the distribution of animal species in different climates Ryan Kalsbeck, author of the study and Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth.

Named after 19th-century biologists Carl Bergmann and Joel Asaf-Allen, the rules state that the animals’ total body size, as well as limb length and thickness, are Compatible with the climate. Cold-adapted species tend to be stocky, with shorter, thicker limbs to limit heat loss, while their more slender counterparts in hot climates are built to cool efficiently. “The study – said Kalsbek – is among the first to suggest that human physiology can adapt to climate to improve physical performance.” “This study demonstrates that the variance in running performance among male athletes is consistent with the Bergman and Allen rules,” he added. This suggests that global patterns of temperature and climate may have shaped human body types to achieve the shape and function they do. These patterns that determine differences in body shape between species on the planet can also influence Triathlon performance And in other endurance sports,” Kalsbek said. Kalsbek checked 171 athletes who have competed in at least two triathlon events, one in a hot setting and one in a cold climate, between 2001 and 2021. The wealth of images from triathlon events has allowed Calsbeek to use Digitization software To measure runners’ morphology based on photos of the cycling portion of the race. Although the bikes come in different sizes, the wheel diameters are identical, which allowed Calsbeek to get a size standard for measuring athletes from the photos. The lack of a significant effect of physiology on female performance may be due to evolution, Kalsbeck said: “It is likely that this effect appears in males only because natural selection has influenced male performance to be diligent hunters.”