Integrating mechanisms of thermal impact on neuromuscular function

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Our lab has a main research focus on how the human body functions during extreme temperatures. In this field, an important question is why humans cannot exercise as hard or for as long in hot compared to cooler conditions. Historically, the main idea for this is suggested to be the loss of fluid through sweating making the heart work harder. However, many other new ideas have been proposed and demonstrated over the last twenty years, including our lab showing that a hot brain is less able to recruit and activate muscles, even if the skin or muscle itself is kept cool. We have since studied this further by looking at how brain blood flow or brain blood chemistry, both of which may change with high body temperatures, can affect muscle function. However, most of this research is on static muscle movements, which may not be similar to how the brain controls muscle during whole-body exercise.