Aging and human heat dissipation during exercise-heat stress: an update and future directions

Aging is known to influence the physiological control of the thermoeffector responses (cutaneous vasodilation and sweating) that facilitate heat dissipation during heat stress. However, it was only recently that these maladaptations were shown to translate to an attenuated capacity for whole-body (i.e. over the entire body surface) heat dissipation during exercise. Emerging evidence indicates that secondary factors (e.g. cardiorespiratory fitness, chronic disease, among others) may modify the impact of age on heat dissipation. Currently, however, a focused overview on this topic is unavailable. The purpose of this brief review was therefore to synthesize recent research on the independent and interactive effects of age on heat dissipation during exercise-heat stress and highlight areas for further exploration.