Recurrent heat exposure: effects on levels of plasma and urinary sodium and potassium in resting and exercising men.

Heat acclimatization was induced in a group of healthy young men by walking on a treadmill (5.6 km/h, 49 degrees C/27 degrees C dry/wet bulb, 90 min/day, 7 d) and confirmed by observing significantly reduced final rectal temperatures and heart rates on the seventh day of exercise in the heat. A second group of men, paired for maximal oxygen consumption and body weight, remained sedentary under identical environmental conditions. While the mild exercise combined with the severe heat conditions induced significant hyperkalemia (p less than 0.02, minimal significance) on both the first and final days, there did occur an attenuated response with significantly (p less than 0.01) reduced plasma K+ after 45 min on the seventh day when compared with first day levels. No significant inter- or intragroup differences in plasma Na+ content of 24-h urine samples showed that men exercising in the heat retained an increased ability to conserve Na+, while sedentary individuals consistently displayed increased excretion of Na+. Thus, we concluded that even the mild exercise described herein effected hyperkalemia at each sampling time, but the level of hyperkalemia was attenuated after acclimatization, and while Na+ was conserved in the exercising men, no such adaptive processes occurred in sedentary individuals.