Abstract
To evaluate heat balance in living conditions, metabolic rate during a series of postures was measured on 5 male subjects. The experiments were carried out in a climatic chamber with an operative temperature of 28°C, relative humidity of 50% and less than 0.1m/s of air velocity. Measurements were conducted for 8 different postures: sitting on a chair as the control posture, standing, sitting upright, sitting with legs crossed, sitting with legs sideways, sitting with knees drawn up, sitting with legs stretched out and lateral decubitus as the test postures. For all postures, subjects wore only brief. Each measurement was obtained for 30 minutes after 60 minutes of rest sitting on a chair posture. Each test measurement was conducted after each control one. The average metabolic rate while sitting on a chair was 53.36W/m2, and changing postures caused significant differences from control rate. The results suggest that it is necessary to use a different metabolic rate for each posture. Combining the present result for males with the existing result for females (Kurazumi et al., 1999), metabolic ratios during a given posture compared to the metabolic rate while sitting on a chair were calculated. They are as follows: standing posture, 1.164; sitting upright, 1.085; sitting with legs crossed, 1.059; sitting with legs sideways, 1.024; sitting with knees drawn up, 1.046; sitting with legs stretched out, 1.068; and lateral decubitus, 0.935. The average metabolic rate while sitting on a chair was 47.32W/m2.
