OPTIMISING THERMOREGULATORY CONDITIONING AND TRAINING SAFETY WITH WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY.

Abstract

Heat acclimatisation (HA) induces beneficial heat adaptations to alleviate heat strain. However, physiological adaptations following HA are muted in tropical natives. This dissertation sought to optimise the efficacy and safety during thermoregulatory conditioning by improving HA strategies and leveraging on wearable technology for personalised physiological monitoring. Comparison of three field-based training programmes revealed that isothermic conditioning enhances the thermal stimulus imposed, conferring a more complete heat-adapted phenotype relative to military-based HA (MHA) and interval training (IT). Despite a shorter training duration, IT conferred similar physiological adaptations to MHA suggesting its applicability as a time-efficient alternative. Furthermore, selected consumer wearables were validated, and an ear-based wearable body core temperature (Tc) algorithm was developed for use in personalised physiological strain monitoring. These wearables displayed acceptable group prediction errors, highlighting their potential for group-based Tc monitoring. However, further improvements are necessary to minimise individual prediction errors for wearable deployment in personalised physiological monitoring.