Effect of clothing constructions on core temperature during exercise and recovery at an ambient temperature

In this paper we investigated the human thermoregulatory responses, especially core temperature behavior during exercise and recovery at ambient temperature of 10 °C and 50 % R.H. under the conditions of wearing three kinds of clothing with same weight and different constructions. Six healthy men wore three kinds of clothing: one insulating the upper half of the body thinly and the lower half of the body heavily (clothing A, the weights in the upper and lower halves of the body were 489 g and 1278 g, respectively.), the second one insulating the upper half of the body heavily and the lower half of the body thinly (clothing B, 1212 g and 559 g, respectively.), and the third one insulating the upper and lower halves of the body moderately (clothing C, 899 g and 879 g, respectively.). The level of rectal temperature was the greatest during exercise in clothing C and the lowest during recovery in clothing A. The increasing and decreasing rates of core temperature during exercise and recovery, respectively, were the smallest in clothing B. These findings are discussed in terms of different cooling efficiency from the lower extremities and disfunction of counter current heat exchange system among clothing A, B, and C.