The Human Performance Centre promotes healthy lifestyles, elite performance and innovation. With specialist biomechanics, physiology and gait analysis laboratories, we have assisted elite and Olympic level as well as developing athletes, and our reputation grows year on year.

The heat acclimation service involves repeatedly exposing you to artificial competition conditions via our environmental chamber prior to flying out to compete. This will enable you to adapt to the conditions that you will be competing in which will provide the following benefits:

• Lowers resting core temperature so that you are able to start exercising at a lower core temperature = greater heat storage capacity.
• Improves thermal comfort = more comfortable in hotter conditions.
• Earlier onset of sweating to cool yourself down more effectively.
• Minimises the performance impairment and risk of heat related illnesses.

• 1 day of exposure to hot conditions (matched to your desired conditions, i.e. competition-specific).
• 60 minute session in the environmental chamber (passive or active; protocol will be determined in the consultation visit). 
• Personalised digital report including information on performance, physiological and perceptual responses.

We will meet you outside the Faraday Wing Building. From here we will direct you to E132 – Environmental Psychophysiology Laboratory - where the service will take place. Please see a picture of the laboratory below.

This service is completed by Dr Freya Bayne.

You can see examples of Dr Freya Bayne's previous consultancy services here.

For information on our policies (payment, cancellation, terms and conditions, etc.) visit our general information page.

If you have a question that we haven’t answered here, please contact lsbushortcourses@lsbu.ac.uk and Dr Freya Bayne – baynef@lsbu.ac.uk and we will respond to your query within 24 hours.

What do I need to bring with me?

Please bring or come ready in your kit (i.e t-shirt, shorts/bib shorts, trainers, cleats (depending on sport). We also have a changing room with showering facilities so please bring a towel with you if you wish to shower after the service.

What are the ranges of the environmental chamber?

The environmental chamber can stably range from 5-40 degrees, and 20-80% relative humidity.

Do you have any cooling options that I can trial during my acclimation?

Yes, you can trial the following cooling strategies:

• Cold-water ingestion.
• Cold-water pouring.
• Fan to mimic wind speed.
• Cold towels.
• Ice-vest.
• Cold-water immersion.

How far in advance do I need to book this service?

Our general practice is that the sooner you book the service, the better, because this will allow us more time to design the service to best suit your needs (<1 month before competition).

Our bookings are also on a first come first serve basis so if there are specific dates and times that you have in mind, the sooner you book in the more likely we can accommodate you.

ue to individual differences (i.e. physiological make up, previous race history), some clients may take longer than others to adapt and therefore please factor in time between the acclimation and the competition to either allow for more acclimation sessions or to fly out a few days before to support your acclimation before the competition.

What happens after I have booked the service?

After you have purchased the service, your details will be sent on to Dr Freya Bayne who will contact you for an initial consultation (if you haven’t completed one already) or to confirm your booking dates (i.e. what day and time).

"The team at LSBU were excellent in the lead-up to running the Marathon des Sables. The training and advice they provided gave me the confidence to go into the race feeling fully prepared. I was able to understand how my body would react and plan my race strategy with their assistance. On reflection, the only thing I would have done differently would be to have engaged with them earlier than one month from the race."

- Mike O'Sullivan

 "I have used Freya's heat acclimation services a few times now prior to international IRONMANS. Going through this process always makes me feel really mentally and physically confident going into a race and it clearly shows in my race results."

- Lizi Brooke

 "What a great experience! This was my first time doing heat acclimation with Freya and Jorge. I absolutely enjoyed every single minute of it. I definitely felt the difference when I got to Thailand, especially during my fight where I felt more comfortable and less bothered by the hot and humid conditions."

- Unknown