Drinking Behavior and Perception of Thirst in Untrained Women During 6 Weeks of Heat Acclimation and Outdoor Training

The purposes of this study were to characterize measures of fluid intake and perception of thirst in women over a 6-week period of exercise-heat acclimation and outdoor training and examine if this lengthy acclimation period would result in changes in fluid intake that differ from those previously reported in men utilizing a shorter acclimation protocol of 8-10 days. Voluntary water intake (11- 17 degreesC) and perception of thirst were measured in a group of 5 women (21-26 yr) undergoing exercise-heat acclimation for 90 min/day, 3 day s/wk (3 6 degreesC, rh 50-70%) and outdoor training 3 days/wk for 6 weeks. Decreased drinking during acclimation was characterized by a decrease in the number of drinks (35 +/- 10 to 17 +/- 5;p \u3c .05), greater time to first drink (9.9 +/- 2.0 to 23.1 +/- 4.7 min; p \u3c .05), and a decrease in total volume ingested per week (3310 +/- 810 to 1849 +/- 446 ml;p \u3c .05) through the 6-week study. Mean perceived thirst measurements remained low and showed only slight variance 3 +/- 0.4 to 5 +/- 0.4). These observations support a psycho-physiological response pattern different than that previously observed during 8-10 day acclimation protocols in men

Interdependent Group Contingency to Promote Physical Activity in Children

As the number of children affected by obesity increases in the United States, it is necessary to intervene with preventive and intervention techniques that will enact change. Because children spend a significant amount of their time in school, it is of particular interest to target strategies during the school day. Given the recommendations for the total duration and intensity of physical activity children should participate in, recess period is a means of acquiring a portion of this daily recommendation. Contingent reinforcement is a technique that is consistently used in schools to promote behavior change. One of these techniques, group contingencies, has repeatedly been shown to increase desired behavior and decrease inappropriate behavior in schools. In the present study, a multiple baseline design was utilized to investigate the use of interdependent group contingencies in physical activity performance during recess, as measured by pedometers, with one class from each of the third, fourth, and fifth grades at an elementary school. Some of the variability existed in gender- and body mass index-specific (BMI) subgroups, in regard to the effectiveness of the intervention and continued maintenance of increased physical activity levels, following the removal of the intervention. However, the overall results support the use of an interdependent group contingency intervention to increase the amount of physical activity students engaged in during recess. </jats:p