Multiple US Olympians wore the dhamaSPORT cooling device on their wrists in Rio - Is it a solution for hot weather?

Forty years ago I was told that the quickest way to cool down was to put your wrists under some running cold water. It worked. That was over 40 years ago!

Who cares if it (the dharmaSPORT ad) was paid for or not. What about the effectiveness of the product?.

Thinkaboutit wrote:

Kranthi Vistakula wrote:

No. This is not a paid article. All the studies are being published in peer review articles.

I'm serious. This definitely appears to be sponsored. Even links to the company's website. Nowhere on the page is that disclosed.

Brojos, what's the deal here? Writing sponsored articles without disclosure is super shady.

We don't do that. My #1 beef with the running industry and with Flotrack in particular is they will take money for coverage and not disclose it. That is unethical in my book and possibly against FTC rules.

The one thing we have with our viewers is trust.

The article isn't sponsored. I think the main problem with it was the title. No need for the brand to be in there. It gave the impression we were promoting the brand. I asked Robert about the title and he said he put the brand in there hoping people googling it would read our article. Not a bad idea but it's not necessary so we've reworded the title and taken the brand out.

old guy 71 wrote:

Forty years ago I was told that the quickest way to cool down was to put your wrists under some running cold water. It worked. That was over 40 years ago!

Who cares if it (the dharmaSPORT ad) was paid for or not. What about the effectiveness of the product?.

This is exactly what I was thinking. How is this much different than wearing arm sleeves during a hot weather race and putting ice in them beforehand? Watch any hot weather ultramarathon and you'll see ice bandannas, ice arm sleeves, women putting ice in their sports bras, ice hats, etc.

I agree with you that the effect is likely to be very small. Without any actual specs, it is hard to say much more that that.

It is definitely possible that the device can dissipate extra heat compared to sweating, though. They are (or vaguely hint that they are) using thermoelectrics to create a thermal gradient within the band, raising the temperature of the outer surface. As you say, if the rate of evaporative heat loss is high enough, this would bring the outer surface back down to (close to) wet bulb temperature. But if the thermoelectric unit is powerful enough, the equilibrium temperature of the outer surface will be higher than wet bulb temperature. In this case extra heat is being dissipated through radiative cooling. Evaporative heat loss is also higher in this case compared to an equilibrium at wet bulb temperature.

Ultimately we need more information about the device to really nail it down. It's not conceptually impossible for it to work, but I agree that it's unlikely to do much (read, anything significant). And it's sketchy that despite a really flashy website they provide no technical information...

"women putting ice in their sports bras"

pics?

In my mind this is no different than the balance bracelet gimmicks that are sold at every convention. Typically those are some $1 pieces of rubber sold in the range of $25-$50, and while this may have a higher material cost the margin and benefit are the same.

I believe you that this isn't a sponsored article, but it reads so much like one that it makes Letsrun look pretty bad. I'm embarrassed, honestly.

As a runner temporarily living in FL, it's an intriguing idea, but I'm not going to throw 200 bucks at something that I'm not 100% sure will help.

"The Dhamma, the truth taught by the Buddha, is uncovered gradually through sustained practice. The Buddha made clear many times that Awakening does not occur like a bolt out of the blue to the untrained and unprepared mind. Rather, it culminates a long journey of many stages"

There may be an infringement of terms here. Meditation is not a sport.

Only thing I wished the article addressed is what is legal. A battery powered device some things cools is legal? What else is allowed?

[quote]Kranthi Vistakula wrote:

No. This is not a paid article. All the studies are being published in peer review articles. [quote]

Which journal (or journals) have formally accepted your paper(s) for publication?

Unless you have articles in press, then you cannot say that your studies "are being published." All you can say is that they are being submitted to peer-reviewed journals, which is very different. Also, which journal matters greatly, as there are now many journals with effectively no standards.

[quote]Kranthi Vistakula wrote:

No. This is not a paid article. All the studies are being published in peer review articles. [quote]

Which journal (or journals) have formally accepted your paper(s) for publication?

Unless you have articles in press, then you cannot say that your studies "are being published." All you can say is that they are being submitted to peer-reviewed journals, which is very different. Also, which journal matters greatly, as there are now many journals with effectively no standards.

Does it cool white people as fast as Africans?

Don't forget the $3000 avacore vacuum cooling glove from Stanford that the army found was no better than an ice vest.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/09/avacore_technologies_magic_cooling_glove_from_stanford_won_t_transform_your_workout_.html

The headline should be, "Company makes unsubstantiated claims for $200 'cooling' device worn by several elites."

The article itself is crap and reveals an utter lack of critical thinking skills on the part of the author and "editor(s)." It reads like an infomercial, regardless of whether it is one or not. Any actual journalist with any self-respect would never put their byline on such a transparent plug.

GeezYouPeople wrote:

The headline should be, "Company makes unsubstantiated claims for $200 'cooling' device worn by several elites."

The article itself is crap and reveals an utter lack of critical thinking skills on the part of the author and "editor(s)." It reads like an infomercial, regardless of whether it is one or not. Any actual journalist with any self-respect would never put their byline on such a transparent plug.

Seeing the opinions of Ph.D physiologists next to those of an athlete and a consultant with a financial stake is like balancing a feather with a dumbbell.

Rupp certified Caps for sale wrote:

Don't forget the $3000 avacore vacuum cooling glove from Stanford that the army found was no better than an ice vest.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/09/avacore_technologies_magic_cooling_glove_from_stanford_won_t_transform_your_workout_.html

Just smaller version of the tech listed above (I added another link to another company). So there is some potential for it to work, but to increase VO2max by >3% seems like a stretch.

I remember when the ice slurry became popular for pre-cooling. I thought no way a liter of Slurpee (not far from that) could cool the body that much, but it did as shown in a few studies.

integrity? wrote:

I believe you that this isn't a sponsored article, but it reads so much like one that it makes Letsrun look pretty bad. I'm embarrassed, honestly.

The Google page rank of a link from this webpage must boost them like crazy.

Putting something cold on your wrists is pointless. Putting something cold on your palms, which direct blood flow near the skin over a large surface area to maximize heat exchange with the air, would make sense - except that it causes vasoconstriction and reduces the blood flow.

Training in heat until your body adapts to the heat is the sensible thing to do. Which Chelanga didn't.

Runners from hot Eritrea commonly hold their hands open which allows them to cool better without sweating.

And certain top runners like Farah and Lagat shave their heads clean bald, which allows sweat to evaporate directly from their scalps. Sweat that soaks into your hair is useless, the change of state only cools your hair when it finally evaporates.

Thinkaboutit. This article makes us look like a piece of Joke. Our technology was awarded MIT TR35 for its heat dissipation capability and it was won many other numerous award. We dissipate 14 watts of heat from our device. We did not sponsor or pay for this article.

Thinkaboutit wrote:

Is this a sponsored article?