Pulmonary function in normal humans with exercise and temperature-humidity stress

Abstract

Fifty-eight normal young male human subjects were exposed for 4 h to comfortable conditions (22 degrees C, 40% rh) or to heat stress conditions (30 degrees C, 60% rh) with or without exercise. Exercise amounted to two 15-min sessions of treadmill walking at 6.7 km X h-1 (4 mph) with a 10% grade beginning at 105 and 225 min after entry into the chamber. Measurements of 15 pulmonary function variables were made 1) before entry into the chamber, 2) 5 min after the first exercise period, 3) 5 min after the second exercise period, and 4) 24 h after the end of the exposure period. The exercise, estimated to use about two-thirds of the subjects' maximum oxygen intake, produced no statistically significant (P less than 0.01) changes in pulmonary function parameters. Heat stress produced significant changes in forced vital capacity, and possibly significant interactions were observed in peak expiratory flow and forced expiratory flow at 25% of vital capacity. Effects of the two factors appeared to be additive. Changes with exercise and heat stress were associated with reversal of a progressive decrease of airway resistance seen in subjects at rest in a comfortable environment.

Test rooms to study human comfort in buildings: A review of controlled experiments and facilities

“…Half of the test rooms have no specific internal layout, meaning that there is no intention to simulate a real space but only to expose subjects to controlled environmental stimuli. Equipment for performing physical exercises are included in 10% of these test rooms [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]. All the others have no specific furniture, even if 49% are larger than 20 m 3 .…”

Regional Conference on Public Health in South East Asia in the 21st century, Calcutta, 22-24 November 1999

“…Evidence of a causal relation is inconsistent; best documented is the eVect of residential damp and mould on respiratory disease, especially in childhood. There is also a literature on climate and health [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] that documents a relation between cold ambient temperatures and cardiorespiratory physiology and mortality; a relation that has been implicated in Britain's "north-south health divide". [24][25][26] So far, however, there do not appear to have been any studies of the relation between all three of the factors that would be involved in an inverse housing law; namely, climate, housing and health.…”