The effect of different water vapor permeable jackets on moisture management, subjective perceptions and physiological parameters during submaximal exercise in a cool environment

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of differences in water vapor permeability (WVP) of outdoor jackets on moisture management, subjective perceptions and physiological parameters under conditions typically encountered in outdoor sports. Four outdoor jackets differing only in their WVP were compared in a repeated measures study. A total of 19 subjects (nine females) were tested in a climatic chamber at 10℃ and 40% relative humidity. The protocol consisted of 15 min of rest, 50 min of treadmill running at 60% of the individual maximal running velocity, and 15 min of passive recovery. We found that jackets featuring greater WVP helped to reduce relative humidity underneath the jacket, resulting in less sweat residue in the clothing system and drier skin during exercise and rest. Subjects were also able to perceive the differences in the microclimate and reported feeling more comfortable and drier in the more permeable jackets. However, WVP did not have a significant effect on oxygen consumption, heart rate, tympanic temperature, overall loss of subjects’ body mass or on perceived exertion. It can be concluded that outdoor jackets with higher WVP benefit moisture management during submaximal exercise in cool temperatures by reducing relative humidity in the clothing system mostly during rest periods. This effect leads to a drier skin which favors perceived comfort and might reduce the after-chill effect. However, WVP of outdoor jackets neither significantly affects physiological responses nor perceived exertion during submaximal exercise in a cool environment.

Systematic review of selecting comfortable sportswear: Predicting wearing comfort based on physiological responses and materials properties

“…Participants involved in the 24 studies with human trials were mainly male, and only six out of 24 studies involved female participants, 19,[21][22][23][24][25] with only one study 19 involving female only participants, and one study with no human participant. 20 Fifteen of the included studies recruited sporty, fit, and well-trained participants.…”

“…27 Ten of the 18 studies measured core temperature using ingestible temperature sensor tablets, 28,29 measuring esophageal, 21,22 rectal, [30][31][32] ear canal, 33,34 and tympanic temperature. 25 In the case of subjective parameters, some of the more frequently used measures included RPE (nine studies), perceived comfort sensations such as thermal sensation (19 studies), tactile sensation (11 studies), skin wetness sensation (16 studies), and overall comfort or discomfort (18 studies). The majority (19 out of 25) of the included studies measured thermal comfort compared to other comfort parameters.…”

“…These studies showed that comfort perception increased when wearing sportswear that can maintain lower skin temperature during activities. However, some studies 19,21,25,28,30,32 evaluated the effect of skin temperature on perceived comfort and did not evidence such a relationship.…”

“…The included studies showed that wearing comfort improved with lower microclimate or skin temperature during exercise. The findings of some studies 25,30,37 indicated that wearers' comfort sensation increased when wearing sportswear that maintained lower microclimate temperature during exercise. Some studies 23,26,28,31,32 showed that increasing in skin temperature and the increase of sweating affected wearers' sensory comfort negatively, especially thermal comfort.…”

A new approach to the assessment of changes in air permeability, waterproofness, surface, and thermal properties of polyamide 6.6 fabric with polyurethane coating after washing

“…Materials with a layered structure are characterized by diverse biophysical properties, as demonstrated by Sybilska and Korycki, 11 , 12 Frydrych et al., 13 Bagherzadeh et al., 14 Jeong and An, 15 Lee and Obendorf, 16 Jasińska et al., 17 , 18 and Wenger et al., 19 as well as mechanical properties, which were studied by Figura-Stawarz et al., 20 Ah Hong et al., 21 Padleckienė and Petrulis, 22 and Masteikaite and Saceviciene. 23 The authors stated that the functional properties of multilayer systems depend on the structure of the entire system and the effect of external factors that can reduce the durability of original functions.…”