Epidemiology of sports-related fatalities during organized school sports in Japanese high schools between 2009 and 2018

Association between the experience of exertional heat illness (EHI) and living conditions of collegiate student athletes

Exertional heatstroke (EHS), a severe form of exertional heat illness (EHI), is the third leading cause of death in athletes; thus, early detection and prevention of EHI can help prevent EHS, which is a life-threatening condition. This study aimed to clarify the association between the cognizance of experiencing EHI and living conditions and specific EHI symptoms among collegiate athletes. This study was conducted in October 2022 by administering a questionnaire to 237 male collegiate athletes. Of the 215 (90.7%) respondents, 197 (91.6%) provided valid responses; among them, 88 (44.7%) responded they had experienced EHI, while 109 (55.3%) had not. A history of medical examinations due to EHI, having experienced headaches during summer activities, and having read the EHI manual were factors indicating cognizance of EHI. The number of times meals containing a staple food, main dish, and side dish were eaten in a day was a factor in preventing EHI. Early detection of EHI is important for its prevention, and it is important that athletes themselves have knowledge of symptoms and can correctly self-diagnose EHI. Emphasizing the potential of a well-balanced dietary intake has the potential to prevent EHI is crucial.

Moving in a hotter world: Maintaining adequate childhood fitness as a climate change countermeasure

Children cope with high temperatures differently than adults do, largely because of slight alterations in their body proportions and heat loss mechanisms compared to fully mature humans. Paradoxically, all current tools of assessing thermal strain have been developed on adults. As the Earth's warming continues to accelerate, children are set to bear the health risk brunt of rising global temperatures. Physical fitness has a direct impact on heat tolerance, yet children are less fit and more obese than ever before. Longitudinal research reveals that children have 30% lower aerobic fitness than their parents did at the same age; this deficit is greater than can be recovered by training alone. So, as the planet's climate and weather patterns become more extreme, children may become less capable of tolerating it. This comprehensive review provides an outline of child thermoregulation and assessment of thermal strain, before moving to summarize how aerobic fitness can modulate hyperthermia, heat tolerance, and behavioral thermoregulation in this under-researched population. The nature of child physical activity, physical fitness, and one's physical literacy journey as an interconnected paradigm for promoting climate change resilience is explored. Finally, future research foci are suggested to encourage continued exploration of this dynamic field, notable since more extreme, multifactorial environmental stressors are expected to continue challenging the physiological strain of the human population for the foreseeable future.