Sweating and body temperatures following abrupt changes in environmental temperature

¹ Department of Occupational Health, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Human subjects were transferred between environments imposing different levels of heat stress. Analyses of measurements obtained after a reasonably steady state had been achieved in each of several environments revealed equally good correlation between a) sweat rate and ear temperature (tympanic membrane), and b) sweat rate and calculated deep skin temperature (hypothetical). The correlations are consistent with adjustment of sweating in response to either hypothalamic temperature or temperature of skin receptors or some combination of the two. However, during the first 20 min after transfer, changes in sweat rate and skin temperature occurred together and in the same direction, but were not accompanied by any consistent change in ear temperature. Thus, to the extent that ear temperature represents hypothalamic temperature, an hypothesis of control of sweating based on hypothalamic temperature alone is not tenable. Alternative physiological explanations are given for data developed elsewhere and used in support of an hypothesis of sweat control solely from the hypothalamus.

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