• International Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2009

Six healthy female volunteers twice undertook an experiment with different types of clothing leaving the arms and legs covered or uncovered at $24{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ and $50{\pm}5%$ RH to study how different thermal stimulation to the distal extremities during the afternoon could modulate circadian parameters of body temperature rhythm. One type of clothing consisted of long-sleeved shirts and full-length trousers (Type I, 989 g, 0.991 clo); the other type consisted of half-sleeved shirts and knee-length trousers (Type II, 750 g, 0.747 clo). Subjects wore Type I or Type II clothing during the afternoon (14:00 h - 19:00 h), and Type I clothing during the evening (19:00 h - 22:30 h) and the night sleep (22:30 h - 06:00 h). Rectal temperature and skin temperatures at the arm and leg were measured continuously. Results were as follows: 1) The circadian amplitude of rectal temperature tended to be greater, and the acrophase was significantly earlier when wearing Type II rather than Type I clothing. 2) The circadian nadirs of skin temperatures of the arm and leg were significantly lower and the amplitudes were significantly greater with Type II clothing. In addition, the acrophase and bathyphase of the circadian rhythm of arm skin temperature were significantly earlier with Type II than Type I clothing. 3) The amplitude of rectal temperature was related closely with that of arm and leg skin temperature. These results suggest that a slightly cool thermal stress during the afternoon to the arms and legs exerted by wearing half-sleeved shirts and knee-length trousers induces a greater amplitude and a phase advance of the overt circadian rhythm of body temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.22 no.7
• /
• pp.963-968
• /
• 1998

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of cooling hands of feet on human thermoregulation in the cold. Eight young (22$\pm$1 yr) and eight aged (69$\pm$4 yr) men volun-teered as subjects They stayed at 1$0^{\circ}C$ in the supine posture during the experiment which included hands or feet exposure to the air for 20 minutes. Hand Exposure (HE) and Foot Exposure (FE) were conducted in radomized order and the baseline was kept before HE and FE. Core temperatures, limb skin temperatures adn thermal sensations were measured. Obtained data were analyze using t-test and correlation. Rectal and esophageal tem-peratures increased in the young (YG) and in aged (AG). Change rate of esophageal temperature (Tes) was maintained higher during FE than HE while rectal temperature showed no differences between YG and AG, and between HE and FE. Hand and foot skintemperature in YG and AG decreased similarly during HE and Fe. Forearm skin temperature during HE decreased while leg skin temperature during FE showed no change HE and Fe. It was concluded that the lower cooling. Furthermore, the increase of Tes was greater in young men than aged men. It is also suggested that the wearing behavior can be differently modified between young and aged men.