The effect of water temperature and voluntary drinking on the post rehydration sweating

Abstract

During heat stress and dehydration, thermoregulation is partly suppressed to save body fluid and circulation. Drinking induces the recovery of thermoregulatory responses including sweating. Our objective is to investigate the effect of water temperature and voluntary drinking on the extent of the drinking-induced sweating. Six healthy subjects 23.7 +/- 0.6 yr old and 80.7 +/- 5.7 kg wt were dehydrated by performing mild exercise (ergometer cycling) in a hot and humid chamber (38-40 degrees C, 20-28% relative humidity). After dehydration, subjects were allowed to drink water with temperatures of 5, 16, 26, 58 degrees C on four separate days. The sweating rate was measured on the forehead area before and after drinking. Also, blood samples were collected during the experiments and plasma osmolality was measured. Sweating increased markedly just a few minutes after the onset of drinking. The rate of this response was lower in ingested water temperature of 5 degrees C (0.43 +/- 0.03 g, p = 0.000). Different intake occurred with different water temperatures (respectively 4.2, 6.4, 3.1, 1.8 ml/kg). Water at 16 degrees C induced higher intake (6.4 ml/kg) together with lower sweating (0.54 +/- 0.03 g), which can result in optimum level of hydration. Conclusion-When dehydrated subjects drink water with different temperatures, there are different sweating responses together with different voluntary intakes. According to our results, consuming 16 degrees C water, cool tap water, could be suggested in dehydration.