http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10912578 wrote:Blood vessels in the surface of the skin dilate and that's why people go red," says Prof Brewer.
However, this means the heart is pumping more quickly to supply blood to both the skin and muscles. And if this continues too long because the body keeps getting hotter, the brain can be starved of blood and oxygen - causing collapse.
Prof Brewer believes this could have happened to the sauna contestants.
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"It's a salutary lesson for people not to do extreme activities like this."
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"American sportswriter Rick Reilly entered the competition three years ago, concluding that it was "possibly the world's dumbest sport".
In his book, Sports from Hell, he describes how he watched a fellow American emerge from the sauna with burns to the skin under his nose, his ears and back, before his own turn came around:
"I tried to stare at the rocks and not blink, because blinking hurt. I tried to take very few breaths, because breathing hurt. I was sure flames were coming out of my mouth. My back seemed to have ignited."
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