The effectiveness of a newly designed evaporative cooling short pants in decreasing physiological and perceptual heat strain under hot/dry laboratory conditions

Abstract

Abstract Background: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of newly designed evaporative cooling short pants (ECSP) in decreasing physiological and perceptual heat strain under hot/dry laboratory conditions. Methods: At the first, an evaporative cooling short pants was designed. Then, to evaluate this cooling garment, 12 healthy men participated in the test. The subjects performed the test at two stages, including test with regular pants and test with ECSP. During each stage, the physiological and perceptual parameters, including heart rate, local temperature in thighs, ear temperature, sweat rate, thermal sensation, sweat sensation, and thermal comfort, were measured every 5 minutes for 60 minutes. Results: The results showed that use of the cooling short pants compared to regular pants could not significantly decrease the parameters of heart rate (P=0.547), ear temperature (P=0.487), sweat rate (P=0.368), local and general sweat sensation (P=0.632) and (P=0.368) respectively. However, use of this garment significantly decreased the mean value of local temperature in thighs by 3 °C (P=0.002), local and general thermal sensation of body by 1.4 (P=0.002) and 0.4 (P=0.006), respectively and increased the mean values of local and general thermal comfort by 1.2 (P=0.003) and 0.7 (P=0.002), respectively. Conclusion: The results revealed that designed evaporative cooling short pants reduced local temperature in thighs and had positive effect on controlling the perceptual heat strain.