During exercise, your body releases heat by

a) using stored energy

b) increasing breathing

c) deceasing heart rate

d) dilating blood vessels

Answer: d) dilating blood vessels

Explanation

Your body attempts to release the heat caused by the exercise by dilating blood vessels and increasing transpiration.

During intense exercise, the body’s heat production can be as much as 1000 W. Some of the heat is stored and the temperature of the body’s core rises by a few degrees. Central and skin thermoreceptors detect rises in temperature, which are then handled by the hypothalamus to elicit appropriate effector responses. Baroreceptor and osmoreceptor inputs may also impact these responses.

Sweating through the skin is a good technique for removing heat from the body, but dehydration inhibits sweating and heat loss. Hot, humid conditions or improper clothing might limit sweating ability. Exercise training improves tolerance to exercise in hot weather by improving sensitivity of the sweat rate/core temperature relationship, lowering the core temperature threshold for sweating, and increasing total blood volume.