Imagine that when you are doing physical outdoor activites in sultry and stifling summer weather, it rains unexpectedly and as a result you feel much cooler all of a sudden. Under this circumstance, it is very easy to catch cold. How do we deal with this situation? The best solution is to get to know about the weather forecast before we plan to do physical outdoor activities, so we can choose to do exercises when the weather is good. It is always suggested that we should try to avoid doing exercises in case of typhoon, thunderstorm and landslide, especially when we plan to engage in activities such as mountaineering and orienteering at countryside.
Sufficient warm-up exercises are necessary before we do more vigorous exercises in rain. Otherwise, it is more likely for us to suffer from sport injuries. We must not believe that we can drink less water just because it rains heavily. In fact as we are doing exercises in rain, our bodies consume even more water and energy than the normal level. Thus, we should replenish adequate amount of water on time.
If we are doing physical exercises outdoors for less than half a day, we should avoid wearing a disposable raincoat in the course. Since disposable raincoats are made of airtight materials, it is difficult for the sweat that our bodies have secreted to evaporate. As a result, we feel muggy as the clothes we are wearing become completely wet. Moreover, we will feel very uncomfortable because the disposable raincoat that we are wearing will keep waving in wind and rub our skin as we are running or moving. Thus we should rather choose the sportswear that is made of materials with better breathability, and then wear a light waterproof windbreaker. Besides its obvious waterproof function, a windbreaker as such can be dried easily, so the period of time that our skin is soaked in excessive water can be reduced, and eventually the chances for us to catch cold or be infected with skin disease will be mitigated. On the contrary, if we are doing physical exercises outdoors for more than half a day, a disposable raincoat is a better choice because it can make us feel warm as we are wearing it. By contrast, it is easy for us to catch cold if we are in a waterproof windbreaker, since it is so thin that the windproof and waterproof functions will be reduced given the longer period of time when it is exposed to rain water. Furthermore, the pores on our skin also become dilated after we have been doing exercises for a long period, which makes us get sick more easily. With the function of warm-keeping, the drawbacks as listed above can be offset.
There are even more requirements concerning the anti-skid functions of footwear in rain. To avoid falling to the ground in rainy weather, we should not wear old footwear with soles which have been thinned simply because we do not want to make our new footwear wet. Moreover, we should also wear socks. If our feet are soaked in water, it is more likely that the skin on our feet is torn by our shoes. More seriously, there will be higher chances for us to suffer from blisters and tinea pedis.
In response to the changes in weather, it is necessary to bring dry towels, clothes, socks and shoes for changing. After we have finished doing exercises, we must dry our hair and body immediately and change our clothes into the dry ones. As such we can reduce the period of time when our bodies get exposed to cooler air. It will be even more beneficial if we can drink some warm water after doing exercises.
Rain is not a reason for not doing physical exercises, as long as we have taken measures to avoid catching cold.
