Cooling Your Palms During Exercise

Obese women often complain of excessive sweating and getting tired because they're so hot. This reduces their exercise tolerance. A small study presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2012 Scientific Sessions found that cooling the palms during exercise slows the rate of internal temperature rise and allows someone who is obese to do more work. Holding a bottle of cold, formerly frozen water, will make obese people more likely to stick with the exercise. In this 12 week study the obese women using a cooling device (their device cooled their hands, while the other group held handle that were kept at body temperature) did not drop out, were able to shave an average of 5 minutes off the time to walk 1.5 miles, dropped almost three inches off their waists, and had lower resting blood pressure and greater exercise heart rate. The device for cooling in this study is not generally found in fitness centers, but carrying a bottle of pre-frozen water could also help.