Personal Cooling Vest Systems for Sports, Athletics & Recreation
Whether wearing the Veskimo Personal Cooling System during your activity or during breaks, it will allow you to enjoy the activities you may have had to avoid due to heat intolerance, or just not being acclimated to the hot climate.
Young athletes are particularly vulnerable to heat and humidity, but their judgment is clouded in wanting to participate, and not let the team down. How many times have we heard of athletes being overcome with heat exhaustion because they (and maybe the coach) ignored the warning signals, such as:
- Confusion – cannot remember simple things, complete simple/routine tasks.
- Irritability – a change in temperament.
- Belligerence – easily frustrated, compounded by confusion and irritability.
- Lightheadedness
- Uncoordinated
- Fatigue – in excess of what would be anticipated.
- Paradoxical chills – goose bumps and shivering in the face of high environmental temperature (an ominous sign).
For morphologic and physiologic reasons children do not adapt as effectively when exposed to heat stress, making young athletes more susceptible to heat-related illness and dehydration syndromes.
Football, especially training season during the hot summer days, for pro's, college and high school athletes, is an especially dangerous time. Trying to maintain the proper core temperature under the football uniform which insulates players is difficult. As more gear is added, from shorts and shirt to pads and helmet to full uniform, players heat up faster, get hotter, and cool slower. Having the Veskimo vest under these layers, with the ability to plug right into a cooler on the sidelines for instant relief would be welcome to the over-heated athlete, and may well circumvent a tragic occurrence of heat exhaustion or worse, heat stroke.
The risk of heat illness rises with increasing temperatures and relative humidity. Higher relative humidity levels reduce evaporative cooling. Evaporation of sweat is the primary cooling mechanism of the body.
The following chart is helpful to athletic administrators and officials in making decisions in order to protect against heat illness:
A. Athletes should receive a 5-10 minute rest and fluid break after every 25 to 30 minutes of activity.
B. Athletes should receive a 5-10 minute rest and fluid break after every 20 to 25 minutes of activity. Athletes should be in shorts and t-shirts (with helmet and shoulder pads only, not full equipment if worn for activity).
C. Children should receive a
5-10 minute rest and fluid
break after every 15 to 20
minutes of activity.
Children should be in
shorts and t-shirts only
(with all protective
equipment removed,
if worn for activity).
D. Cancel or postpone all
outdoor practices/games.
Practice may be held in
an air-conditioned space.
* Add 5° F to the temperature between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from mid-May to mid-September on bright, sunny days.
Source: “Parents’ and Coaches’ Guide to Dehydration and Other Heat Illnesses in Children.” National Athletic Trainers’ Association. June 2003. 2006
Cheryl
For the the elderly, and those that cannot tolerate heat as well, the Veskimo Personal Cooling System would allow that individual to go back to those activities they once enjoyed, now without the fear of becoming too heat-stressed. Just a few possible activities and sports where the Veskimo Personal Cooling System would be an advantage:
- Soccer
- Track
- Golf
- Marathons, especially those in wheel chairs who are not able to handle the heat.
- Field Hockey
- Tennis
- Baseball and Softball
- Fishing
- Golf
- Roller Blading
- Skateboarding