Effect of clothing on physiological responses when female subjects enter a cooling room

Abstract

Changes of skin temperature, sublingual temperature, respiration rate, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen consumption when three adult female subjects moved from a hot room (D.B.T. 30.0°C) to a cool room (D.B.T. 20.0°C) and stayed in the cool room for 110 minutes were observed laying emphasis on the effect of clothing. The following results were obtained.1) When subjects wearing usual summer clothing entered the cooling room the skin temperature, especially that of the end of the extremities fell remarkably and systolic and diastolic blood pressure rose slightly. These findings indicate that adding of clothing is recommendable when women enter the cooling room in summer. The decrease in skin temperature was still considerable when a cardigan and knee socks were put on in addition to the usual summer dresses before entering the cooling room.2) Change of skin temperature and/or oxygen consumption during 110 minutes stay in the cooling room and the effect of clothing on these changes were not the same for the three subjects. It is certain that thermal insulation of the clothing required in the cooling room varies from subject to subject.