3 Benefits of Wearing Base Layers for Winter Sports
Exercising in cold weather requires special precautions to keep you safe from the elements and to protect your body from injury. Read to find out three benefits of wearing base layers for winter sports.
1. Keep Clothes Dry
The primary purpose of base layers is to keep your skin dry. Your body produces sweat during physical exertion to help cool you down. But in frigid conditions, sweaty clothes are uncomfortable and potentially dangerous.
The moisture-wicking fabric in base layers pulls sweat from your skin to the outer surface of the fabric. Once on the other side, the sweat dries quickly so the garment doesn’t become saturated.
This drying action is key to keeping you warm. Since the base layer keeps you dry, your body gets the full benefits of the body heat the mid and outer layers of your sportswear trap.
2. Keep Your Muscles Warm
Wearing base layers also benefits your muscles during winter sports. Essentially, you’re more likely to sustain an injury with cold muscles than with warm muscles. The warmer you are, the more dilated—or open—your blood vessels are. Similarly, the colder your body, the narrower your blood vessels are.
You want your blood to circulate and deliver much-needed oxygen to your muscles when you exercise. This is because your muscles rely on circulation to help them contract and relax, and blood flow helps keep your muscles and connective tissues flexible.
To keep your muscles warm and your blood circulating well, wear base layers and do warm-up exercises before you hit the slopes.
3. Enhance Agility
While the phrase bundle up commonly describes how you should dress in cold weather, you don’t want to wear bulky outfits when you exercise. Whether you’re skiing, ice skating, snowboarding, playing ice hockey, or doing any other winter sport, you need to move flexibly.
Base layers enhance your agility because they cut down on the fabric you need to wear to stay warm and safe. Plus, it’s better to wear fabric designed for the weather than to add bulk by wearing multiple layers of clothes that won’t keep out the cold. Base layers keep your body profile slim, and they also won’t bunch up under your clothes, so you can exercise in comfort.
Enjoy your winter sport in style with protective lightweight thermals from Snow Angel. Our collection of lightweight tops and leggings keeps you dry and warm in cold conditions. Shop for your essential apparel today!