Effects of Individual Sweating Response on Changes in Skin Blood Flow and Temperature Induced by Heat of Sorption Wearing Cotton Ensemble

We examined the effect of individual sweating responses on thermoregulatory responses induced by heat of sorption, immediately after the onset of sweating. The present study consists of two experiments. In experiment 1, made of 100% cotton (C) and 100% polyester (P) clothing were exposed in the chamber at ambient temperature (Ta) of $27.2^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity (rh) raised from 50% to 95% at five different increase rates of environmental vapor pressure (VP). The increase rate of clothing surface temperature (Tcs), peak Tcs and peak time showed significant correlation with the increase rate of environmental VP in C-clothing (p<0.05). In experiment 2, seven female subjects were studied during leg water immersion ($35-41^{\circ}C$) for 70min in Ta of 27.2 and 50%rh. There were significant positive correlations in the increase rate of clothing microclimate VP vs. changes in Tcs, skin blood flow, mean skin temperature and mean body temperature (p<0.05). The present results showed that individual clothing microclimate VP had significant effects on thermoregulatory responses induced by heat of sorption wearing C ensembles.