Direct exposure of the head to solar heat radiation impairs motor-cognitive performance.

ABSTRACT: Health and performance impairments provoked by thermal stress are societal challenges geographically spreading and intensifying with global warming. Yet, science may be underestimating the true impact, since no study has evaluated effects of sunlight exposure on human brain temperature and function. Accordingly, performance in cognitively dominated and combined motor-cognitive tasks and markers of rising brainstem temperature were evaluated during exposure to simulated sunlight (equal to ~1000 watt/m²). Acute exposure did not affect any performance measures, whereas prolonged exposure of the head and neck provoked an elevation of the core temperature by 1 °C and significant impairments of cognitively dominated and motor task performances. Importantly, impairments emerged at cons

SUBMITTER: Piil JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7210303 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature