The physiological analysis of cross adaptation to regular cold exposure and physical activities

This study is devoted to a comparative analysis of the results of cold adaptation and physical training. The adaptive shifts occurring in the body under the influence of hardening (cold shower 2 times a day 2 min long for 6 weeks) and running training on a treadmill (30 min at 70–80% of individual maximal oxygen consumption, 3 times a week, for 6 weeks) in six subjects were compared. The interval between the two cycles of training was no less than 4 months. The indices recorded during the ramp test and the standard cold exposure test before and after each cycle of trainings were compared. It is shown that the patterns of adaptive shifts in adaptation to factors of various modalities strongly differ. The shifts in the adaptation to physical activities were, in general, more expressed than the shits in the adaptation to regular cold exposure. Individual diversity of adaptive responses suggests the expediency of developing new approaches to the theory of adaptation associated with the study of physiological individuality.