IN MY VIEW... DANGERS OF GOING THE EXTRA MILE

MEMBERS of the fire crew who were among the first on the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire are planning to run the London Marathon in a few weeks wearing 30 kg (66 lb) of kit.

They aim to raise funds for residents who continue to be affected by the disaster, as well as for the Fire Fighters Charity. This is clearly an inspirational gesture. Yet while I applaud their charitable intent, I would not want others to follow their example.

Any form of extreme exercise — marathons, triathlons, Ironman contests, or hours upon hours of pounding on a treadmill — takes the body to the edge of what it can withstand, and sometimes it proves too much. The heart is put under strain, as are the joints, and then there is the threat of heat stroke.

During exercise, muscles produce heat as they break down glucose for energy and this is transferred via the bloodstream to the skin. Sweating, by evaporation, causes cooling.

But if the exercise continues for a lengthy period, the conditions are warm, or the athlete’s fluid intake is insufficient, this cooling mechanism is overwhelmed and the body quite literally starts to overheat.

The symptoms include hyperventilation, dizziness, weakness, vomiting and profuse sweating. In complete firefighting kit, these men will have no body cooling mechanism, so there is a danger of heat stroke. It happens even to those running in normal clothes: in 2014, a 42-year-old man died because he overheated during the London Marathon, while in 2016, twin runners collapsed, one at 19 miles, the other at 21, despite the ‘relatively cool’ conditions.

While many need to do more exercise, such extreme versions are not for us, moving from the realms of benefit into excess.

At 67, I do 30 minutes of weightlifting and30 minutes of jogging two or three times a week. I aim to achieve a raise in heart rate and to maintain good muscle tone, and I will keep it up until I am 100 — hopefully.