Abstract

Eight men and 10 women were tested in order to compare their thermoregulatory response during physical exercise in relation to their physical fitness. The subjects were field hockey competitors with maximal aerobic capacity of 61.3 ml/kg/min (men) and 52.6 ml/kg/min (women). Exercises were performed in both groups with an intensity of 50 VO2max during 60 min in a thermoneutral environment. It was found that increases in the auditory canal temperature (delta-T-ac), mean skin body temperature (delta-T-sk), and mean body temperature (delta-T-b) did not differ significantly between men and women. Body loss connected with sweating was significantly lower in women (287 +/- 77 g/m2) than in men (385 +/- 57 g/m2) (p<0.05). Dynamics of sweating showed pronounced differences between both sexes. Delay time (td), time constant (Tau) and inertia time of sweating (ti) were almost twice longer in women than in men; td 4.9 +/- 2.6 and 2.1 +/- 2.4 (p < 0.05), 13.8 +/- 8.6 and 6.9 +/- 2.2 (p < 0.05); ti 18.7 +/- 9.0 and 9.0 +/- 2.0 (p < 0.05) in women and men, respectively. The results of the study show that in men and women of similar aerobic capacity the difference in thermoregulatory response to exercise is mainly expressed in thermoregulatory sweating. Verf.-Referat