On the afternoon of May 15, the “Macle” sports forum was officially opened in Conference Room 101 of the Institute of Physical Science. At this forum, Dr. Fabian C.L. Lim, Director of the Graduate Education Department, Director of the Exercise Physiology Laboratory, and Director of the Military Training Committee of the Ministry of National Defense of Singapore, was invited to give a lecture on “Heat Injury Prevention and Acclimatisation” to all the teachers and students. The lecture was chaired by Dean Shi Shusheng.

 

First, Dr. Lim posed a thought-provoking question: Is body fatigue caused by a higher body temperature? Scholars usually use the critical temperature theory to explain this; that is, high temperatures will lead to heat stroke and affect the performance of the human body, resulting in physical fatigue. Dr. Lim took a different approach, pointing out that Africa' s world-class long-distance runners trained in a hot environment, which meant that the human body had a certain ability to adapt to heat. By increasing the sweat rate, the body can reduce its temperature for the same exercise load.

Dr. Lim then continued to discuss the phenomenon of heat stroke. He pointed out that the principle of heat stroke is influenced by factors such as sweat loss due to heat stress, insufficient hydration, and obstruction of blood circulation in the body, and that high temperatures do not fully explain the causes of heat stroke. He noted that people tend to overlook cardiovascular and autoimmune problems. In this regard, he proposed the “dual pathway model theory of heat stroke”, which describes in detail the pathway of immune response dysregulation. He pointed out that for mild heat stroke and severe heat stroke, we should not only focus on high temperatures; for the former, we should focus on blood circulation, and for the latter, we should focus on the overall health level of the body. In addition, Dr. Lim also proposed new ideas for the prevention of heat stroke, namely, that prevention measures should be based on adequate rest, sleep, and good nutrition. Without these three aspects, the risk of heat stroke will increase. Dr. Lim's theory broke our previous one-way and one-sided thinking about heat stroke, shifting from merely addressing high temperatures to adopting a holistic and three-dimensional approach from the perspective of overall physical health.

During the interactive session, Dean Shi Shusheng asked Dr. Lim a highly relevant question in the context of women' s volleyball, which is a dominant sport in our institute, namely: At what humidity and temperature can training improve the human body' s thermal tolerance and exercise level without causing heat damage? In response to this question, Dr. Lim shared his unique insights from the perspective of practical operation with his profound professional expertise. His insights not only stimulated the enthusiasm for academic research, but also provided valuable suggestions for the high-quality development of our women' s volleyball team.

This lecture not only promoted the exchange and communication between teachers and students, but more importantly, through Dr. Lim' s in-depth guidance, our postgraduate students gained a deeper knowledge and understanding of hyperthermia. It is believed that under Dr. Lim's careful guidance, the students will be able to make more significant progress on the road of academic research.