Physiological and perceptual responses due to exposure to three indoor temperatures in cold environments

Abstract

According to the Chinese National Standard, 18 ℃, 14 ℃, and 8 ℃ are three indoor winter temperature settings in winter for urban residences in the severe cold (SC) and cold (C) zones, rural residences in the SC and C zones, and rural residences in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone, respectively. This paper investigates the rationality behind these three temperatures by studying the physiological and perceptual responses due to exposure to these three indoor temperatures. Ten subjects were recruited and physiological parameters were continuously recorded. Perceptual parameters were simultaneously collected after each temperature setting was reached and stabilized for 30 min. To evaluate individual flexibility, the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) was conducted after 30 min of exposure to each cold environment. Results show that measured physiological parameters except for skin temperature and skin flux are not significantly different at the three temperatures, whereas perceptual parameters except for GATB are significantly different at the three temperatures. When the subjects wore typical winter clothes (1.48 clo), most of the subjects were neutral or slightly warm and found the environment with 18℃ and 14℃ to be clearly acceptable. Thus, it is reasonable to have indoor temperature settings at 18℃ and 14℃ for residences in the SC and C zones. However, most of the subjects felt slightly cool or cold in an 8℃ environment and found this temperature to be just acceptable or just unacceptable, which indicates that 8℃ is cold as an indoor temperature setting under the existing conditions. Thus, rural residents in the HSCW zones must wear thicker clothes or exercise more to survive in the winter and cannot endure 8℃ for a long period of time. Future national standards should adopt a higher indoor temperature setting instead of 8℃ to ensure the health of residents.