face temperature and thermal stress

Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Sun, 8 Aug 1999 09:32:17 -0700 (PDT)

Authors
Katsuura T. Tomioka K. Harada H. Iwanaga K. Kikuchi Y. Institution
Department of Ergonomics, Chiba University. Title
Effects of cooling
portions of the head on
human thermoregulatory response.
Source
Applied Human Science. 15(2):67-74, 1996 Mar. Abstract
Seven healthy young male students participated in this study. Each subject sat on a chair in an anteroom at 25 degrees C for 30 min and then entered a climatic chamber, controlled at 40 degrees C and R.H. 50%, and sat on a chair for 90 min. Cooling of frontal portion including the region around the eyes (FC), occipital portion (OC), and temporal portion
(TC) began after 50 min of entering. An experiment without
head cooling (NC) was also made for
the control measurement. Thermal comfort and thermal sensation were improved by head cooling, but response was the same
regardless of portion cooled. Although rectal temperature, mean skin temperature and heart rate showed no significant effect due to head cooling, forearm skin blood flow
(FBF), sweat rate (SR), and body weight loss (delta Wt) had a tendency to be
depressed. FBF in FC and TC decreased during head cooling, but that in OC and NC did not change significantly, while SR in FC was depressed. delta Wt showed total sweating to decrease by FC and TC, and FC to have greater inhibitory effect on sweating than OC. Thermal strain was evaluated by the
modified Craig Index (I(s)). I(s) in FC decreased significantly more than in NC. Cooling of other
portions of the head had
no significant effect on I(s). Cooling of the frontal portion of the
head may thus be concluded to have the most effect on thermoregulatory response in a hot environment.

Additional commentby poster:

An interesting experiment for determining temperature sensitivity of the face.

  1. Go outside and get hot.
  2. Splash some cold water on some area of the body desides the face.
  3. Note sensations.
  4. Repeat 2 & 3 for face.
  5. Note the difference in effectiveness for facial cooling. It is huge!