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capsaicin Sun exposure and capsaicin tolerance

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dragon49

I'm writing to report that when I spend hours exposed to sun, my capsaicin tolerance is GREATLY decreased.  I noticed this last month, but decided to replicate the experiment before being 100% certain of the phenomenon:
 
I came home from fishing in the sun and one of my Aji Cerezas which I normally tolerate without any problems at all, was instantly unbearable.  My tongue felt like I just bit into a Bhut!  I replicated this situation three more times, and each time, ether my Aji Cerezas or my Superchiles felt like the SHUs were multiplied by 15.  Peppers from the same batches remain tolerable when I haven't just come back from spending hours in the sun.
 
Has anybody else experienced this?
 
I'm guessing that I was a little dehydrated and something about the state caused some protective layer on my tongue to be much thinner.  After biting into the Peppers, the tip of my tongue felt as if it were cut, but it wasn't.
 
Does my theory make sense, or does anybody have a different scientific explanation?
 
all i know is my tolerance usually stays pretty high because i know what to expect from supers and understand it is mind over matter. I'm not sure if tolerance is related to the brain recognizing extreme capsaicin exposure and learning how to deal with it, or it is a physical tolerance where your tongue and heat receptors actually become more numb to the pain.
 
Interesting!
I will just speculate here.
1. Dehydration will decrease the sputum in your mouth , less dilution of pepper by sputum , more pain.
2. Exhaustion and dehydration will lower your pain threshold , more pain.
3. Your endorphine and adrenaline response is lower due to your activities during the day,
     your body can only give so much per day , less "feel good " response , more pain.
Just my educated 2 cents worth.
 
karoo said:
Interesting!
I will just speculate here.
1. Dehydration will decrease the sputum in your mouth , less dilution of pepper by sputum , more pain.
2. Exhaustion and dehydration will lower your pain threshold , more pain.
3. Your endorphine and adrenaline response is lower due to your activities during the day,
     your body can only give so much per day , less "feel good " response , more pain.
Just my educated 2 cents worth.
Click to expand...
Was thinking pretty much the same things
 
In the same way we now recently know that the sun affects radioactive decay rates of elements, which we thought were unchanging, and even used for clocks and dating there are many things we simply do not understand. Or things we thought we understood that we have had to rewrite.
 
i would say it probably is some effect of the sun. And it probably works in an opposite way that eating green leafy things increases ones tolerance to sun exposure.
 
I wouldnt call any opinion in this educated because no one has been educated in this subject. It hasnt even been studied to my knowledge.
 
It could be something simple i.e. a chemical used to make Vit D in the skin during sun exposure is also a chemical that helps with capsaicin tolerance. Or it could be much more complicated.
 
Trust your empirical observations, but not any answers until experiments narrow the possibilities.
 
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