Fuente: Textiles (MDPI) Textiles, Vol. 6, Pages 42: Thermophysiological and Perceptual Responses to Wearable Cooling Devices During Intermittent Exercise in a Hot Environment
Textiles doi: 10.3390/textiles6020042
Authors:
Hiroki Maru
Takumi Yuasa
Hiroyuki Kanai

In this study, we employed forced convective cooling under the fan-cooling garment (FC condition) and conductive cooling under the neck cooling device (NC condition) in a hot environment during intermittent exercise to compare their effects on thermophysiological and subjective responses. Cooling was examined under two conditions: continuous application throughout both exercise and rest periods (Experiment 1) and application solely during rest periods (Experiment 2). As different participant groups were utilized for each experiment, the effects of cooling timing were interpreted in an exploratory manner. No differences were observed between conditions at baseline. In the FC condition, whole-body heat dissipation (HF_mean) significantly increased (p < 0.05), particularly during the recovery phase, and was associated with significant suppression of mean skin temperature rise (p < 0.05) and enhanced thermal comfort. Conversely, although localized heat dissipation at the neck (HF_neck) significantly increased under the NC condition, its effects on whole-body heat dissipation and mean skin temperature were limited. No consistent differences were observed between cooling conditions in axillary temperature or heart rate responses. These results suggest that forced convective cooling, which facilitates ventilation within clothing, and localized conductive cooling exhibit distinct thermal response characteristics. This study provides fundamental comparative data under controlled conditions, contributing to the understanding of the response characteristics of wearable cooling devices.