Teaching and Research
Teaching
Jessica's teaching interests align to physiology, research methods, and independent research project.
Research
Dr Jessica Mee has been working in environmental physiology for over 10 years. In 2015 Dr Mee's research demonstrated that females require more daily exposures to hot ambient conditions to establish hallmark heat acclimation adaptations, compared with males (Mee et al., 2015, 2016). Dr Mee then developed a mixed methods heat acclimation approach which combined daily exercise in the heat with a passive sauna exposure (Mee et al., 2018). This method accelerated the rate of heat adaptation, confirming a time efficient strategy for females, which limits interference with preparations for relocation to a hot climate. Since then, Dr Mee has pioneered the post-exercise hot water immersion (HWI) protocol with her national collaborators at Bangor University and Liverpool John Moores University. The post exercise HWI protocol is a simple to administer, accessible, time efficient, cost-effective strategy, with a series of publications demonstrating the large magnitude of hallmark heat acclimation adaptions (Zurawlew et al., 2018, 2018, 2019, McIntyre et al., 2021, 2022). From this body of research, Dr Mee, along with her national collaborators at Brunel University, the University of Brighton, Anglia Ruskin University and British Rowing, published a review and practitioner guidelines for heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance (Gibson et al., 2019). Due to the interest received in this body of work, Dr Mee was invited to be an expert panel member on the English Institute of Sport, Tokyo 2020, Beat the Heat advisory team to directly inform practice ahead of the games. Jessica is now working on a 4-year UK Research and Innovation Future Leader Fellowship on Improving females’ health and performance by mitigating heat strain.
Funding
(2024) UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow (Round 7). Improving females’ health and performance by mitigating heat strain. ~£950,000
(2017) Defence Science Technology Laboratory, 4 Year Research PhD in Passive heating strategies for heat acclimatisation. ~£300,000
Research Group
Alumni member of the Environmental Extremes Laboratory, University of Brighton.
Member of the Inclusive Sport and Physical Activity Research Group, University of Worcester.
PhD Students
2022-Present. Mr James Moore
2021. Dr Robert McIntyre. Novel insights into heat acclimation by post-exercise hot water immersion
2018. Dr Michael Zurawlew. Post-exercise hot water immersion a novel approach to heat acclimation
PhD Project Ideas
Sustainable and accessible chronic heat mitigation strategies for females.
Sustainable and accessible acute heat mitigation strategies for females.
Publications
McIntyre, R.D., Zurawlew, M.J., Mee, J.A., Walsh, N.P. and Oliver, S.J., (2022). A comparison of medium-term heat acclimation by post-exercise hot water immersion or exercise in the heat: adaptations, overreaching, and thyroid hormones. American Journal of Physiology, Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 323 (5). R601-R615. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00315.2021.
McIntyre, R.D., Zurawlew, M.J., Oliver, S.J., Cox, A.T., Mee, J.A. and Walsh, N.P. (2021). A comparison of heat acclimation by post-exercise hot water immersion and exercise in the heat. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24(8), 729-734. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2021.05.008.
Gibson, O.R., James, C.A., Mee, J., Willmott, A.G.B., Turner, G., Hayes, M. and Maxwell, N.S. (2020) Heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance: A review and practitioner guidelines. Temperature. 7(1). 3-36. DOI: 10.1080/23328940.2019.1666624.
Zurawlew, M., Mee, J.A. and Walsh, N.P. (2019). Post-exercise Hot Water Immersion Elicits Heat Acclimation Adaptations That Are Retained for at Least Two Weeks. Frontiers in Physiology, 10. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.01080.
Zurawlew, M.J., Mee, J.A. and Walsh, N.P. (2018). Post-exercise hot water immersion elicits heat acclimation adaptation in endurance trained and recreationally active individuals. Frontiers in Physiology, 9, DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01824
Zurawlew, M.J., Mee, J.A. and Walsh, N.P. (2018). Heat Acclimation by Post-Exercise Hot Water Immersion in the Morning Reduces Thermal Strain During Morning and Afternoon Exercise-Heat-Stress. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 13 (10), 1281-1286. DOI: 10.1123/ijspp.2017-0620
Mee, J.A., Peters, S., Doust, J. and Maxwell, N.S. (2018). Sauna exposure immediately prior to short-term heat acclimation accelerates phenotypic adaptation in females. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22 (2), 190-195. DOI: 10.1016/j.jsama.2017.06.024.
Relf, R., Willmott, A., Mee, J., Gibson, O., Saunders, A., Hayes, M. and Maxwell, N. (2018). Females exposed to 24 hours of sleep deprivation do not experience greater physiological strain, but do perceive heat illness symptoms more severely, during exercise-heat stress. Journal of Sport Sciences, 36 (3), 348-355. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2017.1306652.
Mee, J.A., Gibson, O.R., Tuttle, J.A., Taylor, L., Watt, P.W., Doust, J.H. and Maxwell, N.S. (2016) Leukocyte Hsp72 mRNA transcription does not differ between males and females during heat acclimation. Temperature, 3 (4), 549-556. DOI: 10.1080/23328940.2016.1214336.
Mee, J.A., Gibson, O.R., Doust, J.D. and Maxwell, N.S. (2015). Sex differences in adaptation to short and long term heat acclimation. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 25 (Suppl. 1), 250-258. DOI: 10.1111/sms.12417.
Gibson, O.R., Mee, J.A., Tuttle, J.A., Taylor, L., Watt, P.W. and Maxwell, N.S. (2015). Isothermic and fixed intensity heat acclimation methods are similarly effective in heat adaptation following short and long-term timescales. Journal of Thermal Biology 49-50, 55-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2015.02.005.
Gibson, O.R., Mee, J.A., Tuttle, J.A., Taylor, L., Watt, P.W. and Maxwell, N.S. (2015). Isothermic and fixed intensity heat acclimation methods elicit equal increases in Hsp72 mRNA. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 25 (Suppl. 1), 259-268. DOI: 10.1111/sms.12430.
Mee, J.A., Doust, J. and Maxwell, N.S. (2015). Repeatability of a running heat tolerance test. Journal of Thermal Biology 49-50, 91-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2015.02.010.