The fan cooling vest use reduces thermal and perceptual strain during outdoor exercise in the heat on a sunny summer day.

Abstract

The fan cooling vest is coming into very common use by Japanese outdoor manual workers. We examined that to what extent using this vest reduces thermal strain and perception during outdoor exercise in the heat on a sunny summer day. Ten male baseball players in high school conducted two baseball training sessions for 2-h with (VEST) or without (CON) a commercially available fan cooling vest on a baseball uniform. These sessions commenced at 10 a.m. on separate days in early August. The fan airflow rate attached the vest was 62 L·s-1. Neither ambient temperature (Mean ± SD: VEST 31.9 ± 0.2°C; CON 31.8 ± 0.7°C), wet-bulb globe temperature (VEST 31.2 ± 0.4°C; CON 31.4 ± 0.5°C) nor solar radiation (VEST 1008 ± 136 W·m-2; CON 1042 ± 66 W·m-2) was different between trials. Mean skin temperature (VEST 34.5 ± 1.1°C; CON 35.1 ± 1.4°C), infrared tympanic temperature (VEST 38.9 ± 0.9°C; CON 39.2 ± 1.2°C), heart rate (VEST 127 ± 31 bpm; CON 139 ± 33 bpm), body heat storage (VEST 140 ± 34 W·m-2; CON 160 ± 22 W·m-2), thermal sensation (- 4-4: VEST 0 ± 2; CON 3 ± 1) and rating of perceived exertion (6-20: VEST 11 ± 2; CON 14 ± 2) were lower in VEST than CON (all P < 0.05). Total distance measured with a global positioning system (VEST 3704 ± 293 m; CON 3936 ± 501 m) and body fluid variables were not different between trials. This study indicates that the fan cooling vest use can reduce thermal strain and perception during outdoor exercise in the heat on a sunny summer day. Cooling with this vest would be effective to mitigate thermal risks and perceptual stress in athletes and sports participants under such settings.