Male-female responses in various body temperatures during and following exercise in cold air

During cold exposure women have lower skin temperatures on the trunk and legs. This study evaluated whether these colder temperatures were also manifested in peripheral sites (nose, chin, and finger) where frost bite often occurs. In addition, the core temperature responses to passive rewarming were studied to evaluate whether women experience greater afterdrop as a result of colder shell temperatures. The subjects, eight males (M) and eight females (F), were tested on four occasions, once each at +10, +3.5, -3.5, and -10 degrees C. Each day the subject, clothed in sweat clothes and coveralls, performed 6 bouts of intermittent exercise (20 min. exercise (60W), 10 min. rest) for 3 h in the designated temperature and then rested in +21 degrees C for 1 h. The F had lower Tsk in every test, but finger, nose, and chin temperatures were never lower in F. There were no M-F differences in core temperature during cold exposure or during recovery, even though the Tsk would predict that F had a colder shell. Furthermore, there was no apparent relationship between Tsk rewarming and changes in T core. The data demonstrated no M-F differences in potential for either frost bite or for afterdrop in core temperature.