Cognitive performance during passive heat exposure in Japanese males and tropical Asian males from Southeast Asian living in Japan.

Background: Heat acclimatization studies have reported that tropical natives have better physiological function to tolerate heat exposure compared to those from temperate natives, in which may result in a better ability to show a better resistance to performance losses during heat stress. In this study, we investigate whether the degree of heat acclimatization affects cognitive abilities during heat exposure by comparing heat acclimatization level of subjects from Southeast Asia and temperate natives from Japan.

Methods: Eleven tropical males from Southeast Asia and ten temperate males from Japan participated in this study and performed two types of cognitive task: short-term memory test and mental arithmetic test, under control and passive heat exposure conditions.

Effects of duration of stay in temperate area on thermoregulatory responses to passive heat exposure in tropical south-east Asian males residing in Japan.

Background: In this study, we investigated the effects of duration of stay in a temperate area on the thermoregulatory responses to passive heat exposure of residents from tropical areas, particularly to clarify whether they would lose their heat tolerance during passive heat exposure through residence in a temperate country, Japan.

Methods: We enrolled 12 males (mean ± SE age 25.7 ± 1.

Passive heat exposure induced by hot water leg immersion increased oxyhemoglobin in pre-frontal cortex to preserve oxygenation and did not contribute to impaired cognitive functioning.

This study investigated the effects of passive heat exposure on pre-frontal cortex oxygenation and cognitive functioning, specifically to examine whether the change in pre-frontal cortex oxygenation coincided with cognitive functioning during heat exposure. Eleven male students who participated in this study immersed their lower legs to the knees in three different water temperatures, 38 °C, 40 °C, and 42 °C water in an air temperature of 28 º C and 50 % relative humidity for 60 min. After 45 min of leg immersion they performed cognitive functioning tasks assessing their short-term memory while immersing their lower legs.