EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON DAILY CLOTHING HABITS WHICH MAY LEAD TO IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALTH

Abstract

  In an attempt to form a principle of regulating clothes in daily life with a view to improving health, the present study was designed to examine the fluctuation of air temperature of the microclimate and it's effects on vasomotor regulation and autonomic nervous system. Each of the young female subjects had alternately clothed lightly (abbr. LC) and heavily (abbr. HC) on every other day. Between the period from 8:00 to 20:00, the air temperature of the microclimate (Tm) was measured over seven sites of the whole body surface area and skin temperature (Tsk) was taken on breast. To evaluate the physiological and permanent effect of Tm fluctuation, the subjects were exposed to stress of alternate heat and cold, which was regarded to be the daily fluctuation of Tm, once a day, every third day, during the months between June-August. Skin temperature response and the subjective symptoms of fatigue were also examined prior to and after training periods. Independently of subjects and regions, the magnitude of Tm's fluctuation was generally greater for the LC, and the same pattern was noted in the fluctuation of Tsk. After the thermal training through the stress of alternate heat and cold, the initial response of Tsk to both heat and cold became sensitive and the complaints remarkably decreased. The present results suggest that light dressing in daily life and, in particular, a fluctuation of air temperature of the microclimate, might contribute to improvements in vasomotor regulation and the autonomic nervous system.