Here’s another sledding offshoot and one of the more famous extreme cold weather sports that was actually taken out of the Olympics due to its danger to competitors. You go diving headfirst down a hill using nothing but a tiny sled that resembles a skeleton (hence the name) to do it. You can use any sled you want, but for the love of all that is holy, please put on a helmet and a mouthguard. If only to reduce cleanup later on. Ski Biking View in gallery via lenzsport.wordpress.com

When you want a change of pace and are seeking a weird new way to work out those winter kinks, here’s an array of 17 strange sports that you do in the cold. Most require limited equipment and almost no training, just like all the best things in life. But there is one possible problem with these findings and that’s the the method used to measure the temperature. The brave volunteers were given rectal thermometers. As Ollie Jay, associate professor in thermoregulatory physiology at the University of Ottawa, has pointed out, the liquid from a cold drink goes straight to the stomach, not far away from the rectal thermometer. It’s little wonder, therefore, that the temperature appears to go down. It is true that hospital admissions do rise during heatwaves and that many of these patients will be older. A more recent study had similar findings. Although isotonic sports drinks and plain water were more effective at hydrating, beer was still more hydrating than expected. And a Spanish study involving 40 minutes on a treadmill found that water and beer both rehydrated them to the same extent. No one knows exactly why when we know that drinking beer tends to make people go to the loo. One hypothesis is that because the body is dehydrated and needs the fluid it retains more of the beer than it would other fluids.

Skijoring

Drinking plenty of liquid is the right thing to do during a heatwave: it’s essential to stay hydrated to protect the kidneys. But there is debate over whether that drink should be ice-cold or hot. The theory behind choosing a hot drink is that it temporarily heats you from within. This causes you to sweat more, which cools you down. The human body can produce up to two litres of sweat per hour, which is an effective way of reducing your core body temperature. But until randomised controlled trials are conducted, we can’t know for sure what effect a fan might have – and such trials are not easy to plan. Researchers would need to have everything ready to go as soon as a heatwave began. Even then, they might wait several years until the temperatures are just right. The amateur version of this is the polar bear contests held every year where grizzled old men tempt death by heart failure by leaping into the freezing water in their skivvies. However, for real cold weather sports enthusiasts, there is an upgraded version. All you need is insulated diving equipment and a desire to see sea life under the ice. Speed Flying AKA Blade Running View in gallery via infinitelegroom.com During heatwaves, everyone has plenty of tips on how to keep cool. But which tips and facts stand up to scientific scrutiny on the hottest days of the year? We look at the evidence for whether you should:

But if that liquid is not replaced you soon become dehydrated – so some recommend avoiding hot drinks altogether. Some also argue that you shouldn’t have too much tea or coffee, as these contain dehydration-causing caffeine. However, there is little evidence that moderate amounts of caffeine act as a diuretic. Fans are used widely. One case report even gives an example of three patients with heatstroke who were cooled down using the downdraft from a light helicopter. In general, it’s thought that fans might work when the temperature is up to 35C (95F). Above that (some studies say at 37C (98.6F) or higher), blowing hot air across the body could increase convective heat gain, worsening the situation and leading to heat exhaustion. So if it’s exceptionally hot, fans might even increase dehydration. Please, be careful engaging in these activities, as they can all be mortally hazardous. Ski Ballet View in gallery via bustle.com The Japanese competition of snowball fighting, Yukigassen, is a brutal game of dodgeball ramped up to be more than a little dangerous. You’ll need two teams of seven and a whole array of pre-made snowballs, as well as protective gear to keep your face and head from feeling the sting of the balls. Believe us when we say that you’ll be grateful for the padding when it’s all over. Certainly one of the more aggressive cold weather sports, it is also quite the intriguing experience. Urban Iditarod View in gallery via deseretnews.comIf you like a bit of speed in your cold weather sports, then ice sailing could be the winter endeavor for you. True, you’ll need to get a specialized boat for this. One that is mounted on skids that can move across the ice. Once you do, there’s no end to the enjoyment that can be had on a blustery day. It’s paddleboarding and windsurfing meets ice skating and a hell of a good time. Snow Polo View in gallery via israelandbeyond.me These were all small studies, though, and they weren’t looking specifically at body temperature, so we can’t prove that beer cools you down. But they do show that one or maybe two small beers can still hydrate rather than dehydrate you. So perhaps that single beer in Ice Cold in Alex was worth the wait. In the 1958 film Ice Cold in Alex, Sir John Mills’ character looks forward to escaping the desert and drinking an ice-cold beer. When he eventually arrives, he sits at the bar and is served a glass of lager. Downing it, he famously says: “Worth waiting for.”

So, you’ve gotten yourself a pair of skis but hate the idea of hitting the hill along with every other snow bunny, waiting in long lift lines, and contending with inebriated souls who class drinking in the snow as one of the primary cold weather sports. Then it’s time to attach yourself to a horse, a motorcycle, a set of dogs, or anything else that moves to find the unbridled fun (read: stark terror) of being drug along like a water skier over the unforgiving ground. Make sure you add in some jumps for good measure. Yukigassen View in gallery via travelalberta.com The breeze of a fan feels like welcome relief. Fans don’t cool the air. They move it around, with the aim of creating a breeze to increase the efficiency of the body’s normal methods of keeping cool via convection of heat from the skin and evaporation of sweat from the skin. This is not one of the best cold weather sports for those faint of heart, a little bit of hang-gliding and parasailing coupled with careening down a hill. Anyone who fears heights, speed, danger, or embracing death by tree might want to give this a miss. Anyone else: get a parachute, get some skis, get a big hill, and get your will updated and notarized. Snowmobile Jumping View in gallery via desktopimages.org What we do know is that fans aren’t always a foolproof solution. In a 1999 heatwave in Cincinnati, 17 people died – and 10 had fans which were switched on when the people were found dead. Of course, what we don’t know is if they would have died sooner without the fans, or if the reason these people had bought fans was that they lived in the hottest buildings.

Ice Blocking

You should only open the windows if the air outside is cooler than the air inside, which is most likely to happen at night. In really hot weather, you should close the windows during the day. Because there’s more shade indoors the air might even be cooler. Even if you can get a breeze to flow through your home or office, if it’s a hot breeze it won’t cool you down and when the pollen count is high it could make hayfever worse. Verdict: False – if the air outside is hotter than indoor. But at night opening the windows may give you some relief.