Staying healthy while running in the heat

The one thing I miss about the cooler weather is being able to go for a run at any time of the day. In summertime, I have to go as early as possible, just after sunrise, because any later and I get way too hot. Must be in my blood, but I just can’t handle the exertion during hot weather, especially when the sun is beating down.

An interesting article in the New York Times talks about that very subject today: how best to survive exercising in the dog days of summer. Relief in the form of dousing your head in water would seem an obvious and simple solution, but apparently this doesn’t do you any good, and may do you harm. That’s because sweat has to evaporate in order to cool you down, and adding water only blocks the pores.

So how to endure, especially if (unlike myself) you’re running very long distances over a few hours? Dr. Samuel Cheuvront, a researcher at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Massachusetts, found that people can acclimatize. In his tests he found people generally needed five days to be able to adapt to hot conditions without their core body temperatures going above the 104 degree Fahrenheit safety zone. Some adapt faster than others, he says, but he has yet to come across a person who hasn’t been able to adapt at all.

What do you do to stay cool when exercising in the heat? Share your tips with other women—including me!