Effects of body geometry, body composition, cardio-pulmonary capacity, and fitness on young men's thermal preference.

Abstract

This paper investigated principal parameters affecting individual differences of thermal preference. 36male college students were selected from three thermal preference groups by a questionnaire, including 10 of cool preference (Gcp), 17 of neutral preference (Gnp), and 9 of warm preference (Gwp). Subsequently, their thermal preferences were further examined by a human trial in a climate chamber. Once significant differences were found between groups, subjects' 57 parameters, including body geometry, body composition, cardio-pulmonary capacity, and physical fitness, were measured. Compared to Gwp, Gcp had higher weight (80.0 vs. 64.2kg), body mass index (BMI) (26 vs. 20.8kg·m-2 ), body surface area (BSA) (1.94 vs. 1.78m2 ), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (87.29% vs. 80.23%), body circumferences (except for forearm circumference), skinfold thickness of all the local parts, volume of expired air (VE) (50.97 vs. 40.81L/min), and body fat rate (BFR) (24.44% vs. 14.07%), but had a lower specific surface area (SSA) (0.02477 vs. 0.02791m2 /kg), resting metabolic rate (RMR) per kilogram (1.21 vs. 1.47W/kg), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (65.30 vs. 74.69mmHg), and percentages of muscle (71.17% vs. 80.95%), total water (55.35% vs. 63.14%), skeletal muscle (42.47% vs. 47.94%), protein (14.90% vs. 16.94%), inorganic salt (5.29% vs. 5.86%), and bone mineral (0.044% vs. 0.048%). Among these parameters, body fat and SSA played a dominant role (accounting for 85.76%) in explaining individual differences in thermal preference.