Control of circadian variation in skin blood flow response to heat stress

Six male subjects had their lower legs immersed in water at 42 degrees C for 60 min at 4 different times of the day to study whether the skin blood flow response to passive heat stress shows circadian variation in the relationship between skin blood flow and local sweating rate. When skin blood flow was plotted against local sweating rate, three distinct phases were observed. Phase A, an increase in skin blood flow without sweating was maximal at night. But the slope of the regression line did not change over the day in Phase C. These findings suggest that there is circadian variation in the skin blood flow response before onset of sweating during passive heat stress. This variation might be related, in part, to the circadian rhythm in vasoconstrictor activity.