Female thermal sensitivity and behaviour across the lifespan: A unique journey

Abstract

Women are a group of individuals that undergo unique anatomical, physiological and hormonal changes across the lifespan. For example, consider the impact of the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause, all of which are accompanied by both short- and long-term effects on female body morphology (e.g., changes in breast size) and temperature regulation, heat tolerance, thermal sensitivity and comfort. However, empirical evidence on how skin thermal and wetness sensitivity might change across the lifespan of women, and the implications that this has for female-specific thermal behaviours, continues to be lacking. This paper is based on a symposium presentation given at Physiology 2023 in Harrogate, UK. It aims to review new evidence on anatomical and physiological mechanisms underpinning differences in skin thermal and wetness sensitivity amongst women varying in breast size and age, in addition to their role in driving female thermal behaviours. It is hoped that this brief overview will stimulate the development of testable hypotheses to increase our understanding of the behavioural thermal physiology of women across the lifespan and at a time of climate change.

Keywords: body temperature regulation; perceptual responses; thermal behaviours; women.

FIGURE 1

A conceptual framework for female thermal sensitivity and behaviour. Changes in body temperature and skin wetness (1) trigger conscious perceptions of temperature and wetness (2). These ‘ongoing’ perceptions are compared with the ranges of skin temperature and wetness that are deemed comfortable (3). If skin temperature and wetness boundaries are exceeded by ongoing perceptions (e.g., feeling too warm and wet), thermal discomfort is experienced (3) and thermal behaviours are triggered [(4) e.g., physical cooling, hydration, changing clothing insulation)] to restore the body's thermal state and comfort. Emerging evidence on female‐specific individual factors (5) indicates that body morphology and ageing could modify either an individual's thermal sensitivity (i.e., influence on 2) or their behavioural responses to the same thermal stimulus (i.e., influence on 4).