The pains of the Indian Summer.

2026 Day 139. #PersonalDays.

I have been trying to get fitter this year. With my previous attempts at gym and fitness, I was mostly focussed on building bigger biceps and looking good overall. My plans have since evolved, I am chasing fitness and a much leaner body so I can stay flexible, active, and still look good.

So far the progress has been great. Running has improved my VO2 max, cardio fitness, and helped me lose fat, while functional strength training has increased my muscle mass and vascularity. I am extremely happy with the progress and I am looking forward to being better still.

Unfortunately Indian summers have arrived. I always hated it because the summer made me want to stay indoor for most of the day. The heat is annoying to deal with and even with air conditioning you just dislike going outside in general.

With my fitness regime, this has gotten even worse. My heart rate is spiking slightly, I am mentally more tired than in the winters, it’s getting too hot to run, it’s getting too hot to enjoy the calmness after your work out. This is one side of India that I had not missed in all my years living abroad.

Obviously I was curious about how this was affecting my physical health and got to researching. Some google results, some LLM directions. I learned a few things which are affecting my fitness journey.

Photo by amirgraphy on Unsplash
  1. Heat -> Vasodilation -> Higher Heart Rate — As the summers are hotter, your body gets heated up quicker and wants to eliminate this heat. To do so the heat needs to be transferred from your core to your skin via blood vessels and then the sweat glands activate to offer a cooling effect.
    To dissipate more quickly the blood vessels expand to be able to carry more blood. On expansion your blood pressure drops, which is not great. So your heart starts pumping blood faster to keep up the pressure.
    This affects everything from resting to your workouts. If you are constantly working out watching your heartbeat, you may want to account for a difference in the temperature.
    In short, whether at rest or in the middle of an activity, you will see quicker rises and higher than normal heart rate in the summer than in the winters.
    This was not totally unexpected, but at the least now I know why.
  2. Heat -> Mental stress — Keeping your body cooler can be harder than keeping your body warmer. Your body naturally produces some heat, so at temperatures closest to your natural temperature, your body needs to do minimal work to regulate your internal temperature. This leaves more of your cerebral capacity for other tasks.
    When trying to cool your body down, your body is increasing blood flow, inducing sweat, and constantly trying to manage your body temp with balancing internal activities. If your internal temperature gets to high, death can be inevitable.
    Because of the elevated heart rate, when you do go to bed or try to relax, it is just not the same. Air conditioning and fans really help depending on the level of humidity in the environment.
    This is why you feel lazier and more distracted in the summers. Your mind is focussed on keeping you alive and any physical activity will only raise your internal temperature.
  3. Heat -> Air Conditioning -> Heat -> constant environment changes -> sickness — Constantly going from an extremely hot environment to an extremely cooler environment can be really problematic. At one point your body is trying it’s best to keep you warm and at the other the opposite. This disrupts the natural behaviour fo the body because it does not expect such frequent changes in the environment (as is naturally not possible).

Summers can be bothersome in tropical countries. They can lead to heatstrokes and eventual death. India is said to be experiencing an usually hot summer in 2026. Keep in mind to constantly look for shade, and try to keep your body temperature lower by avoiding direct sunlight, hydrating (with cooler temperature liquids), and minimising high heart rate activities. Use air conditioning if you can but do not turn it up to maximum cooling, instead maintain a normal temperature 23–25 Centigrade.

See you tomorrow.