Ambient temperatures preferred by young European males and females at rest

Abstract

Forty-eight young adults (24 men and 24 women) stayed for three hours in a climatic chamber setting, lightly clothed and seated at rest with no prescribed task; rectal and mean skin temperatures were continuously recorded. During the first hour, the subjects were exposed to an imposed ambient temperature (25.1 degrees C) during which body temperatures stabilized and subjective thermal judgments were collected. For the next two hours they could freely set the ambient temperature at the level(s) they preferred. The subjects spent about one hour seeking a preferred temperature (transition period), which subsequently turned out to be unsteady in most cases. The overall mean of the individual average preferred temperatures (third hour) was 26.6 degrees C (S.D. = 2.6 degrees C). Significant time of day (morning versus afternoon) effects were found on preferred ambient and actual body temperatures. The body temperatures previously recorded at 25.1 degrees C were significantly predictive of the average ambient temperatures preferred between one and two hours later (third hour); the multiple regression equations differed markedly between men and women.