Abstract
We studied the effects of cooling the upper torso by frozen gel strip on thermophysiological responses and clothing microclimate in female subjects wearing protective clothing for pesticide during exercise and rest at an ambient temperature of 30°C, the average summer temperature during the daytime in Nagano. Five healthy female students volunteered as subjects. They wore two kinds of protective clothing : one with and the other without frozen gel strip.After resting for 15 min on a chair, the subjects repeated 15 min exercise by a bicycle ergometer (50 W) and 5 min rest 3 times under the circumstances of an ambient temperature of 30 ± 0.3°C and a relative humidity of 50 ± 5%. Main results were as follows : 1) Cooling the upper torso inhibited an increase of the forearm sweat rate during exercise. 2) The mean skin temperature and clothing microclimate (temperature, humidity) at trunk were significantly lower by cooling. 3) Thermal sensation was improved by cooling. It was concluded that cooling the upper torso could reduce the physiological strain in the working subjects wearing protective clothing for pesticide at warm ambient temperature of 30°C.
