Effects of hot and cold environments in team sports: A narrative review of physiological consequences, performance implications, and mitigation strategies

Effects of Hot and Cold Environments in Team Sports: A Narrative Review of Physiological Consequences, Performance Implications, and Mitigation Strategies

The review article, “Effects of Hot and Cold Environments in Team Sports: A Narrative Review of Physiological Consequences, Performance Implications, and Mitigation Strategies,” was carried out by Annachiara Pingitore, Stefano Amatori, Sveva M. Nusca, Vanessa Rocco, Sergiu V. Lazau, Mariangela Peruzzi, Giacomo Frati, Luigi Sciarra, Elena Cavarretta, and Fabrizio Perroni in The Open Sports Sciences Journal.

A new review from Italian researchers brings together the evidence on how extreme heat and cold affect team-sport athletes. It finds that the effects depend heavily on context, and that the preparation strategies with the strongest support are heat acclimation, individualized hydration, and well-timed cooling. As competitions move into more varied climates, the authors argue that managing the weather should be treated as part of match preparation, not as an afterthought.

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Why Weather Matters in Team Sports

Football, rugby, basketball, hockey, and American football are played in stop-and-go bursts, and most of them are played outdoors. Players face heat, humidity, sun, wind, rain, and cold, and the match calendar now takes teams across very different climates. The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was moved to November and December because of extreme summer heat, and the 2026 World Cup spans Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Climate also shows up in results. Recent work on the NFL found that game-day temperature predicts outcomes when teams from different climates play each other. Earlier reviews tended to look at one condition or one sport, usually heat in soccer. This review covers hot and cold conditions across team sports, searching PubMed, Web of Science, and ResearchGate for original studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and position statements.

The Environment

In the heat, the body diverts blood to the skin to cool itself, which strains the heart and muscles. Players dehydrate, tire sooner, feel the effort as harder, and make slower or poorer decisions. Humidity makes matters worse because sweat evaporates less easily. In soccer, temperatures above 22°C combined with humidity above 60%, or above 28°C even in drier air, have been linked to less running and fewer sprints. Even so, elite players often protect their most decisive high-intensity efforts by pacing themselves, which is why heat does not always lower match performance in a simple way. One study of the 2018 World Cup found that teams who prepared in comfortable temperatures covered about 290 metres more per player in matches. Cold has a different set of effects. Muscles lose force and power, agility and jump performance drop, and hand dexterity suffers once tissue temperature falls to about 15°C, which affects passing, catching, and ball handling. Wind and rain make cold stress worse than the air temperature alone suggests. Substitutes are especially exposed, because they sit still after warming up and can cool down before they enter the game. Cold can also reduce thirst and increase fluid loss, and it can trigger breathing problems, particularly in athletes with asthma or allergies.

The Cope Up Mechanism

For heat, the review names acclimation as the best-supported strategy: one to two weeks of repeated exposure, with heart and circulation benefits appearing within about 4 to 7 days and sweating adaptations taking roughly 10 to 14 days. Cooling methods such as ice slurry, cooling collars, and cold towels help during breaks and substitutions, and cold-water immersion is the first-line treatment for heat stroke. Hydration plans should be built around each player’s own sweat rate, because no single dehydration threshold fits everyone. Loading up on extra fluid before play (hyperhydration) has weaker evidence and should not be a first choice. For cold, the advice is layered clothing, longer warm-ups with a repeat warm-up at half-time or after long stoppages, insulation or heated garments for substitutes, regular drinking opportunities, and enough carbohydrate before matches. The authors are open about the gaps. Most heat research comes from endurance exercise in laboratories and does not carry over neatly to team play, and cold-weather evidence specific to team sports is limited. They call for better real-time monitoring technology and clear, regularly updated guidelines from expert panels, and they recommend that coaches, sports scientists, nutritionists, and doctors work together on individualized plans. The review was led by corresponding author Dr. Vanessa Rocco of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Section of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy, and the Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, eCampus University, Novedrate, Como, Italy. Co-authors are Annachiara Pingitore, Giacomo Frati, and Elena Cavarretta (Sapienza University of Rome, Latina), Stefano Amatori, Sergiu V. Lazau, and Fabrizio Perroni (University of Urbino Carlo Bo), Sveva M. Nusca (Sant’Andrea University Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome), Mariangela Peruzzi (Sapienza University, Rome, and Maria Cecilia Hospital, Cotignola), and Luigi Sciarra (University of L’Aquila).

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Article title: Effects of Hot and Cold Environments in Team Sports: A Narrative Review of Physiological Consequences, Performance Implications, and Mitigation Strategies

DOI: 10.2174/011875399X505344261007060521
http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/011875399X505344261007060521