Skin heating during simulated hemorrhage lowers arterial blood pressure but not tolerance following exercise in a cold environment.

Skin heating helps avoid hypothermia in trauma victims but may influence the systolic (SBP) and mean arterial blood pressures (MAP) helping to guide resuscitation. We examined the effect of skin heating on tolerance and arterial blood pressure during lower body negative pressure (LBNP) across four trials. Nine participants completed 15 exercise intervals [60 s 88% peak power output (PPO) and 60 s 10% PPO] in a cold environment (0°C, 70% RH) lowering mean skin temperature (Tsk) before undergoing LBNP to pre syncope where Tsk remained low (Cold Trial: 27.