School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Built Environment and Energy Application, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Built Environment and Energy Application, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
J Therm Biol. 2021 Aug;100:103042. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103042. Epub 2021 Jun 28.
Heat acclimation (HA) is a widely recognized physiological phenomenon of human body in hot environments. HA has many benefits, such aspreventing hyperthermia responses, and is an efficient way to improve human responses to hyperthermal environments. However, it is not known whether HA is dependent on the environmental conditions. Moreover, its mechanism and effect on the safety performance remain unexplored. In this study, we created a climate chamber to simulate a hyperthermal environment. Thirty healthy males were recruited for this study, who were then trained under the same ambient conditions (temperature of 38 °C and relative humidity (RH) of 40%). The training involved running on treadmills (at 5 km/h) to simulate heavy manual labor, and performing heat stress tests (HST) under six different conditions (32 °C/40% RH, 35 °C/40%, 38 °C/40%, 32 °C/70%, 35 °C/70%, and 38 °C/70%). Their physiological indices (rectal temperature, heart rate, sweat loss and skin temperature) and one psychological index (thermal sensation) were measured. Furthermore, a hazard avoidance test device (HATD) was designed to evaluate the individual safety performance by detecting human errors. The results show that training and environmental conditions have different effects on HA. After HA, the physiological and psychological strain were significantly improved. More importantly, HA also helped improve the participants' awareness of the dangers and required emergency responses to face potential hazards. Overall, a reasonable HA training under proper conditions is helpful to ensure the safety of human beings. More research is needed to study the role of HA on safety performance.
热适应（HA）是人体在热环境中的一种广泛认可的生理现象。HA 有许多好处，例如预防体温过高反应，是改善人体对过热环境反应的有效方法。然而，目前尚不清楚 HA 是否取决于环境条件。此外，其机制及其对安全性能的影响仍有待探索。在本研究中，我们创建了一个气候室来模拟过热环境。招募了 30 名健康男性参加这项研究，然后在相同的环境条件下（温度为 38°C，相对湿度（RH）为 40%）进行训练。训练包括在跑步机上跑步（以 5 公里/小时的速度）以模拟重体力劳动，并在六种不同条件下进行热应激测试（HST）（32°C/40%RH、35°C/40%、38°C/40%、32°C/70%、35°C/70%和 38°C/70%）。测量他们的生理指标（直肠温度、心率、出汗量和皮肤温度）和一个心理指标（热感觉）。此外，设计了一种危险回避测试装置（HATD），通过检测人为错误来评估个体安全性能。结果表明，训练和环境条件对 HA 有不同的影响。HA 后，生理和心理应激明显改善。更重要的是，HA 还有助于提高参与者对危险的认识，并要求对潜在危险做出紧急反应。总的来说，在适当的条件下进行合理的 HA 训练有助于确保人类的安全。需要进一步研究 HA 在安全性能方面的作用。
