With regards to coaching or racing within the components, warmth administration can separate a robust end from a battle to the road or, worse, a DNF. Whereas each female and male athletes face physiological challenges when exercising in sizzling and humid situations, the way in which our our bodies reply to warmth stress is distinctly totally different.
For girls, understanding these sex-specific variations in thermoregulation isn’t only a matter of consolation; it could actually assist higher efficiency and make the expertise extra pleasurable, regardless of the situations.
Skewed Understanding
With local weather change driving record-setting heatwaves throughout the globe, coaching and racing in summer time is changing into extra difficult for all athletes.
The issue is that normal pointers associated to hydration and warmth acclimation are sometimes primarily based on research carried out predominantly on males.
Audits and evaluations carried out on sports activities and train science analysis have constantly proven a considerable under-representation of ladies as research contributors.
Feminine-only research have traditionally accounted for a really small proportion of all analysis in these fields, resulting in pointers primarily underpinned by analysis carried out on male athletes.
This is a crucial realisation as a result of, as with many physiological processes, a girl’s physique handles warmth a lot otherwise to a person’s, which implies they usually want a special strategy.
The Science of Staying Cool
Thermoregulation is your physique’s means to keep up a steady core temperature regardless of altering exterior situations.
Throughout train, your coronary heart fee rises to provide oxygen to your working muscle mass, pores and skin (for cooling), and important organs.
When exercising open air in sizzling and humid situations, muscle contractions generate warmth. To stop overheating, the physique will increase blood move to the pores and skin and prompts sweat glands to assist cool by way of evaporation.
Within the warmth, your physique prioritises these calls for by reducing blood move to your intestine and liver, which might spell hassle for each women and men as there are fewer assets to assist digestion and nutrient absorption, particularly as temperatures creep previous 24°C.
Nonetheless, that’s the place the similarities between our thermoregulatory responses sometimes finish.
Intercourse-specific Variations
As a result of sex-specific variations in thermoregulation, feminine athletes would possibly discover that they get extra fatigued or expertise extra extreme intestine points than their male counterparts in the identical situations, regardless that their hydration and fuelling methods tick all of the beneficial packing containers.
For starters, ladies typically produce much less sweat than males on the identical relative depth. That doesn’t imply they’re much less environment friendly at cooling, although. It means they rely extra on blood move redistribution and warmth dissipation by way of the pores and skin, relatively than purely on sweat evaporation.
A research1 carried out by Japanese researchers affirmed this distinction. Findings confirmed that whereas bodily coaching will increase sweat charges in each women and men, the diploma of enhance is bigger in males.
This distinction pertains to the next sweat output per gland in males in comparison with ladies, even when matched for cardio capability or coaching standing. Moreover, males sweated extra as train depth elevated.
Research2 additionally point out that ladies exhibit a better total train vasodilation response in lively muscle mass in comparison with males, which is essential for sustaining a steady core physique temperature throughout bodily exercise, which generates appreciable metabolic warmth.
Hormones and Warmth
Hormones play a major function in how ladies regulate temperature. Oestrogen and progesterone, which fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle, affect each core temperature and sweat response3.
- Oestrogen: Peaks simply earlier than ovulation within the follicular section, tends to advertise warmth loss by bettering blood move to the pores and skin.
- Progesterone: Barely raises resting core temperature and delays the onset of sweating.
This phenomenon signifies that within the luteal section – the second half of the cycle (about 5 to 7 days after ovulation), when progesterone is increased – ladies could really feel hotter, sweat later, and discover it tougher to dump warmth throughout arduous efforts, particularly in heat climate or excessive humidity. It’s refined however noticeable in endurance situations, the place small inefficiencies accumulate over hours.
Earlier research4 have additionally proven that males have the next sweat output than ladies, partly as a result of testosterone is believed to reinforce the sweat response.
Intercourse hormones additionally management fluid stability, water and sodium within the physique5, as progesterone competes with aldosterone, a hormone that retains sodium.
The result, particularly within the high-hormone section of the menstrual cycle or oral contraceptive use, is a better quantity of water retention, contributing to decrease sodium ranges, which might enhance the chance of Train-Related Hyponatremia (EAH).
Physique Composition and Warmth
Variations in physique composition are one other key issue in these sex-specific variations in how women and men warmth up and funky down.
A girl’s sometimes smaller physique dimension and decrease relative muscle mass, in comparison with males, considerably affect her means to manage physique temperature.
The decrease relative muscle mass in ladies immediately impacts warmth manufacturing by reducing a girl’s Basal Metabolic Fee (BMR), as a result of muscle tissue is extra metabolically lively than fats, producing extra warmth even at relaxation. As such, a girl’s decrease muscle mass means she produces much less whole metabolic warmth throughout a hard and fast workload train than a person.
Girls additionally sometimes have the next physique fats proportion relative to males. Fats acts as insulation, which is useful within the chilly, however counterproductive within the warmth.
The result’s that girls could warmth up extra slowly, but additionally have a tendency to chill down much less effectively as soon as overheated, notably when environmental situations scale back the effectiveness of sweating.
Moreover, a girl’s smaller physique dimension and better floor area-to-mass ratio can generally provide a bonus in milder warmth, permitting for sooner warmth change. Nonetheless, as temperatures rise and humidity spikes, this profit diminishes.
Hydration and Electrolytes
As a result of ladies are inclined to sweat much less, they sometimes lose smaller absolute volumes of fluid and sodium, however that doesn’t imply hydration is much less vital to feminine athletes.
As women and men differ of their hydration wants at relaxation and through extended train, an individualised technique is important.
An vital consideration is hydration standing initially of a race, as ladies are inclined to have decrease whole physique water ranges.
Coupled with decrease sweat gland output, dropping the identical proportion of physique mass by way of sweat could symbolize a bigger proportion of whole physique water loss in ladies.
Whereas ingesting extra could appear to be an acceptable strategy, over-drinking might be simply as dangerous as a result of hyponatraemia (low blood sodium) is extra frequent amongst smaller, lighter athletes who eat giant quantities of water with out sufficient electrolytes.
Some research present that feminine athletes have the next incidence of EAH, sometimes attributable to their decrease physique weight and smaller fluid compartments in comparison with males, in addition to a possible tendency to overhydrate primarily based on normal hydration recommendation.
As such, ladies want a measured hydration plan that makes use of thirst cues and physique weight adjustments between the beginning and finish of periods and races as pointers, relatively than counting on inflexible fluid consumption schedules.
Nonetheless, ingesting plain water gained’t lower it. It absorbs slowly and may pull sodium and water into your intestine, which hinders, relatively than helps, hydration and power ranges. And relying solely on electrolyte-infused drinks isn’t the reply both.
Girls must also embrace a mixture of high-carb drinks for power, and hypotonic power drinks formulated with glucose and sucrose to reinforce fluid absorption from the intestine into the physique and preserve osmolality under that of blood.
Too many hypertonic drinks, like high-carb mixes, can decelerate fluid absorption and infrequently trigger bloating, cramping, or diarrhoea.
The appropriate strategy is a technique that features the fitting stability of electrolytes and hypotonic and hypertonic power drinks to make sure your intestine absorbs fluid effectively and maintains blood quantity with out compromising in your carb consumption.
An extra research-backed advice6 is to complement with L-glutamine for seven days earlier than any race that can happen in sizzling situations. This complement technique could assist intestine operate and scale back the consequences of warmth.
Acclimation and Adaptation
Curiously, whereas males typically sweat extra, ladies’s thermoregulatory techniques are inclined to adapt sooner to warmth coaching7.
If you’ll be racing in sizzling and humid situations, repeated publicity by way of a structured heat-acclimation block – sometimes 10-14 days – or coaching throughout heat occasions of day can enhance sweat response and cardiovascular effectivity.
This implies that girls who practice neatly within the warmth can shut a lot of the efficiency hole, particularly in the event that they tailor restoration, hydration, and depth round their cycle.
Finally, ladies aren’t much less succesful within the warmth; feminine our bodies simply reply otherwise. Understanding these physiological nuances permits feminine endurance athletes to plan smarter, race stronger, and get better sooner.
References:
- Ichinose-Kuwahara, T., Inoue, Y., Iseki, Y., Hara, S., Ogura, Y., & Kondo, N. (2010). Intercourse variations within the results of bodily coaching on sweat gland responses throughout a graded train. Experimental Physiology, 96(3), 263–272. https://doi.org/10.1113/expphysiol.2010.053710.
- Kellawan JM, Johansson RE, Harrell JW, Sebranek JJ, Walker BJ, Eldridge MW, Schrage WG. Train vasodilation is bigger in ladies: contributions of nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2015 Aug;115(8):1735-46. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3160-6. Epub 2015 Mar 28. PMID: 25820143; PMCID: PMC4506238.
- Greenfield AM, Charkoudian N, Alba BK. Influences of ovarian hormones on physiological responses to chilly in ladies. Temperature (Austin). 2021 Sep 14;9(1):23-45. doi: 10.1080/23328940.2021.1953688. PMID: 35655670; PMCID: PMC9154773.
- Inoue Y, Ichinose-Kuwahara T, Funaki C, Ueda H, Tochihara Y, Kondo N. Intercourse variations in acetylcholine-induced sweating responses attributable to bodily coaching. J Physiol Anthropol. 2014 Might 29;33(1):13. doi: 10.1186/1880-6805-33-13. PMID: 24887294; PMCID: PMC4050411.
- Rowlands, D. S., Bonetti, D. L., & Hopkins, W. G. (2011). Unilateral Fluid Absorption and Results on Peak Energy After Ingestion of Commercially Obtainable Hypotonic, Isotonic, and Hypertonic Sports activities Drinks. Worldwide Journal of Sport Diet and Train Metabolism, 21(6), 480-491. Retrieved Nov 4, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.21.6.480.
- Pugh, J.N., Sage, S., Hutson, M. et al.Glutamine supplementation reduces markers of intestinal permeability throughout operating within the warmth in a dose-dependent method. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 2569–2577 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3744-4.
- Kobayashi Y, Ando Y, Okuda N, Takaba S, Ohara Ok. Results of endurance coaching on thermoregulation in females. Med Sci Sports activities Exerc. 1980;12(5):361-4. PMID: 7453515.
Creator: Pedro van Gaalen
When he’s not writing about sport or well being and health, Pedro might be out coaching for his subsequent marathon or ultra-marathon. He’s labored as a health skilled and as a advertising and comms knowledgeable. He now combines his passions in his function as managing editor at Health journal.
