Head, face and neck cooling for performance 🧊
Which cooling strategy is best for heat?
Head, Face, and Neck Cooling for Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Study Details
This new meta-analysis compiled data from 63 studies (618 participants) to establish the effects of head, face, and neck on physical and cognitive performance 🔍
Here are the key findings ⬇️
Key Findings
Physical Performance 🏃♂️
🫁 Nil to medium beneficial effects for endurance
✅ No harmful effects
💧 No cooling strategy was superior to another
Cognitive Performance 🧠
❓ Could not be determined with meta-analysis
➖ No effect on most outcomes
🧩 Some evidence of improved working memory
Physiological and Perceptual Responses🫀
🌡️ Large effect on skin temperature at the target site
😌 Improved thermal sensation and comfort
➖ Negligible effects on heart rate and core temperature
Adverse Events ⚠️
📝 Only 3 incidents reported in 63 studies
1 incident of cooling intolerance
2 incidents likely unrelated to cooling
✅ No reports of cooling causing heat injury
Important Notes 📝
⚖️ Present evidence is predominantly male (87% male, 13% female)
👩🔬 More research on female athletes is needed for best practice recommendations
🚫 No current evidence of detrimental or harmful effects of cooling on performance, physiology, or cognition, despite perceptual improvements in thermal discomfort
Recommendations ✅
📊 Pilot methods, doses, and timings in training
💭 Try to maximise the perceptual effects
📜 Ensure strategy is legal with sport regulations
Considerations☝️
❓ There may be no effect
🚧 Some strategies may be intolerable
📦 Some strategies may not be logistically feasible
Conclusion
Cooling strategies may be useful to enhance performance, but evidence suggests that responses can be highly individuals 🔬
Test them out, find what works and think about how easy they are to implement when required ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40355096/
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