Handling the Heat: How to Use Your Palms to Stay Cool

Thanks for the scientific backup to something I’ve been doing for more than 40 years…I learned, while working outside all day during the summer at a camp, that the fastest way for me to cool down (other than the pool plunge option) was to run cold water down my forearms.  Doing that, perhaps accidentally, meant the water ran over my palms too, producing the cooling effect you describe.

I usually wear a lightweight hat to keep the sun off of my face.  I found that when hiking in shady areas, jusy removing my hat does a lot to cool me down.   My 2 cents.

Kevin, the ventral portion of your forearm is also glabrous skin! If you’d published your results, maybe you’d be the one selling a $1500 device to cool people off :)

Jon, I’ve found similar results by trying to let my forehead breath whenever possible. A hat dunking in a cool stream works great too.

I have heard of Palmala Handerson.

Heller is a colleague of Andrew Huberman. I heard him on the Huberman Lab podcast. At the time, I was doing a lot of sauna. I found that running my hands under cool water was vastly superior for cooling off, than a cold shower.

I can’t say I’ve been able to use this technique to improve my hiking performance. I’ve always been the “start cold” guy :-). However, since I have bouts of Reynaud’s, I wonder if a small gentle palm warmer might help in cold weather. Those commercial hand warmer things are too aggressive. Would I pay$1400? Um, no.

Great article! Thank you.