This study has five chapters, organized in the following manner: (1) Chapter I contains the introduction, statement of the problem, purposes of the study, hypotheses, and significance of the study; (2) Chapter II is a review of the literature; (3) Chapter III is a description of subjects and tests and the procedures for treating the data; (4) Chapter IV contains the statistical technique of the analysis and the findings related to the hypotheses; and, (5) Chapter V consists of the summary, conclusions, and recommendations. The purpose of this study was to determine performance levels in the areas of (1) agility, (2) endurance, (3) reaction time, and (4) strength at high (ninety degrees Fahrenheit) and ideal (sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit) environmental temperatures. On the basis of the findings it was concluded that (1) high temperature (ninety degrees Fahrenheit) causes human motor performance to deteriorate, and ideal temperature (sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit) causes human motor performance to be improved; (2) the three components which showed a significant difference required more muscular action than did the component (reaction time) which showed no significant difference; (3) the majority of previous findings agree with the present research in respect to agility and reaction time; and (4) results were evenly divided as to the effects of heat on endurance and strength, with present research adding credence to improved performance in ideal temperature.

Physical activity of moderate intensity and duration leads to healthy biological adaptations in humans. However, very intense and prolonged exercise may induce disruption in redox balance, potentially increasing oxidative stress. In addition, exposure to environmental heat stress and associated hyperthermia further increases oxidative stress and may induce the expression of heat shock proteins. However, antioxidant supplementation is believed to minimise the effect of oxidative stress and may therefore help reduce or limit the heat shock response to exercise heat stress. The first study (Chapter 4) examined whether exertional heat illness (EHI) casualties among military recruits may exhibit greater disturbances in redox balance following exercise compared to non-EHI controls. Nine (n=9) recruits were identified as having suspected EHI during the Loaded March (LM) on day 1, with a peak mean (SD) body core temperature of 40.1 (0.5) °C. Fifteen (n=15) recruits were identified as having suspected EHI during the Log Race (LR) on day 2, with a peak mean (SD) body core temperature of 39.7 (0.5) °C. A further twenty-one (n=21) recruits, which successfully finished both LM and LR events, were treated as controls (CON). Interestingly, the plasma antioxidant concentration was significantly elevated from pre to post-exercise (p < 0.001) for EHI and CON groups, during both LM and LR events, with no changes on lipid peroxide protein carbonyl concentrations. These data suggest there is no increase in lipid peroxide or protein carbonyl level damage in response to intense hyperthermic military exercise, regardless of acute heat illness. It is possible that military training augments the body's defence capabilities, thus reducing oxidative stress and damage induced by free radical production. To date there is a scarcity of data examining the effects of acute intake of antioxidant supplements on oxidative stress and heat shock response during continuous exercise in a hot environment. Hence, the aims of the second study (Chapter 5) were to examine the effects of acute ingestion of Quercetin (Q), Quercetin + vitamin C (QC) or placebo (P) 14 hours before, 2 hours before and every 20 minutes during trials on oxidative stress and heat shock response. In this randomised, crossover study 10 recreationally active males (age 21±2 y, V̇ O2max 54.9±8.4 ml.kg.min-1) completed three running trials at 70% V̇ O2max for 60 minutes in the heat (33.0±0.3°C; 28.5±1.8% relative humidity). Exercise heat stress significantly elevated plasma quercetin (p=0.02), antioxidant power (FRAP) (p < 0.001),plasma heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) (p=0.009) and plasma heat shock protein 90α(HSP90α) (p < 0.001) over time, but no differences were detected between trials. Also, no changes were observed in protein carbonyl concentration. Acute intake of quercetin significantly increased the level of plasma quercetin however, this did not affect the plasma antioxidant capacity or heat shock response to exercise heat stress. The increases in plasma HSP70 and HSP90α concentrations might act as supplementary antioxidants, reducing the oxidative damage reflected in the absence of changes in protein carbonyl. Exercise heat stress is effective in inducing both intracellular HSP70 (muscle and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)) and extracellular HSP70 (plasma) concentrations. Thus, the third study (Chapter 6) tested the hypothesis that this acute quercetin supplementation would induce similar trends in plasma HSP70 and intracellular HSP70 concentrations 2 days following exercise heat stress. In this randomised, crossover study, 9 recreationally active males (age 22±2y, V̇ O2max 50.3±3.3ml.kg.min-1) completed three running trials at 70% V̇ O2max for 60 minutes in the heat (32.9±0.3°C; 28.3±1.2% relative humidity). This study demonstrated that there is no positive relationship between both intracellular of HSP70 (muscle and PBMC) and plasma HSP70 (eHSP70) 2 days following exercise heat stress. These data suggest that the release of eHSP70 could originate from others tissue or cells. Additionally, the absence of differences between trials in the expression of muscle HSP70, PBMC HSP70 and plasma HSP70 might indicate it is implausible that quercetin might inhibit the expression of HSP70 in plasma, muscle and PBMC 2 days following the exercise heat stress stimulus. Overall, the results from this thesis emphasise that the hyperthermia experienced in response to exercise and environmental heat stress could potentially influence the human redox response and heat shock response. Besides, there is reasonable evidence that acute quercetin co-ingestion with vitamin C has the potential to improve the bioavailability and bioactive effects of quercetin, however, the effects of quercetin supplementation in reducing oxidative stress in response to exercise heat stress remains to be elucidated. In addition, the anti-oxidative ability of acute ingestion of quercetin to suppress the intracellular and extracellular heat shock response remains uncertain and worthy for further investigation.