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Thermal perceptions and skin temperatures during continuous and intermittent ventilation of the torso throughout and after exercise in the heat

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Abstract

Objective

This study tested the hypothesis that intermittent cooling in air-perfused vests (APV) will not only maintain thermal balance but, due to cyclical activations of cutaneous thermoreceptors, also enhance thermal perceptions.

Method

Ten physically active males completed four conditions where they exercised (walking: 5 km h−1, 2 % gradient) in a hot environment (~34.0 °C, 50 % RH) for 72 min, followed by a 33-min period of rest. They wore an APV throughout. The four conditions differed in respect to the profile of ambient air that was perfused through the APV: continuous perfusion (CP); intermittent perfusion of 6 min ON/OFF periods (IPonoff); a steady increase and decrease in flow rate in equal increments (IPramp); and an initial step-increase in the flow rate followed by an incremental decrease to zero flow rate (IPtriang). Whole body and torso thermal comfort (TC, TTC), whole body and torso temperature sensation (TS, TTS), whole body and torso skin temperature (\(\bar{T}_{\text{sk}}\), \(\bar{T}_{\text{sktorso}}\)), local relative humidity (\(\overline{RH}_{\text{torso}}\)) and rectal temperature (T re) were measured.

Results

There were no significant differences in T re, absolute whole body and local \(\bar{T}_{\text{sk}}\), TC, TTC and TS between the cooling profiles. However, TTS was cooler in CP and IPramp than IPonoff and IPtriang. Even though intermittent cooling did not significantly enhance thermal perceptions in CP, a trend existed for TC (P = 0.063) to become less favourable over time.

Conclusion

To reduce the power consumption and extend the battery life of an APV, it is recommended that an intermittent cooling profile should be adopted.

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Acknowledgments

This research is financially supported by University of Portsmouth and W.L. Gore & Associates. The authors would like to thank Geoff Long, Mark Newton, and Nicola Ferguson for all their technical support on this project and the participants for their efforts.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical consideration

This experiment was approved by the University of Portsmouth Biosciences Research Ethics Committee. It complies with all current legislation, including the Declaration of Helsinki, as adopted at the 52nd WMA General Assembly, Edinburgh, October 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre, Design School, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK

    Sarah L. Davey

  2. Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Portsmouth University, Portsmouth, UK

    Martin J. Barwood & Michael J. Tipton

Authors
  1. Sarah L. Davey
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  2. Martin J. Barwood
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  3. Michael J. Tipton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah L. Davey.

Additional information

Communicated by Narihiko Kondo.

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Davey, S.L., Barwood, M.J. & Tipton, M.J. Thermal perceptions and skin temperatures during continuous and intermittent ventilation of the torso throughout and after exercise in the heat. Eur J Appl Physiol 113, 2723–2735 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2697-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2697-5

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