2000 Volume 4 Issue 1 Pages 61-68
The purpose of this study was to compare the preferred water temperatures of showers and to investigate the post-shower physiological and subjective responses. The experiments were carried out in summer and winter. Two different groups of sixteen healthy females participated as subjects for each season. They each took a shower, and then rested for 30 minutes in a resting room. Skin temperatures, heart rate and blood pressure of the subjects were measured before and after the shower. Two kinds of subjective responses for thermal sensation were measured at three times after showering: immediately, then 15 minutes later, and finally 30 minutes after the showering. Water temperature and flow rates were measured during showering. The main results were as follows: 1) The preferred temperature was significantly higher by 2.1°C in winter than in summer, but there was no difference shown in water consumption between the two seasons. 2) Mean skin temperature increased abruptly after showering in winter, while it showed smaller increment after showering in summer. The temperature was kept at a significantly high level after showering compared to before showering in winter. 3) Heart rate increased slightly immediately after showering, but it fell towards the pre-showering level in the subsequent 15 minutes in both seasons. 4) Blood pressure descended after showering in both seasons, except in one case where it rose by about 5 mmHg immediately after showering in summer. Significant differences were confirmed between the initial level and 15 minutes level or 30 minutes level after showering in winter. 5) Subjects felt warm immediately after showering in the resting room which was heated at 24°C in winter and cooled at 26°C in summer. The proportion of subjects feeling warm was higher in winter compared to that in summer with no significance and this dissipated by the 30 minutes level in both seasons. In winter facial discomfort due to heat was observed in 30% of subjects immediately after
