Posted by Maciek on June 06, 2002 at 16:55:26:
In Reply to: Re: Nitrox, because... posted by scubagirl on June 06, 2002 at 16:10:36:
When you are cold your near skin blood vessels constrict and allow less blood to circulate where it can get cold fast. When you load some hot water into your wetsuit it of course feels good and your body decides it's nice and warm now, so blood vessels go back to normal. But surprise surprise. Next thing you do is splash into cold water. Before your vessels constrict again you experience faster than before heat loss.
Similar thing happens when you pee into your wetsuit. Not only you offload plenty of heat with pee itself, but you also give a short term cosy feeling to really blood rich areas.
How significant it is to whole body heat balance I have no idea. But it certainly makes you colder.