The experimental results of mean skin temperature of four subjects, A, B, C and D were shown in Figure 5.1. It can be seen that mean skin temperature. Tsk remained stable and constant (around 32 to 34 °C) during the 10 minutes period prior to water immersion,.
Immediately upon immersion Tsk increased sharply to about 38 °C in 5 minutes time and kept on increasing slowly until the end of immersion. Immediately the subjects left the water, Tsk
fell sharply to normal mean skin temperature of around 32°C in 5 minutes time and kept on decreasing slowly until it reached a constant state at the end of recovery phase.
No significant different of Tsk were observed among the four subjects. The minor different of Tsk in the pre-immersion and recovery phase was due to the different individual particular (such as weight, height, fat percentage etc) and the slightly different environmental conditions (Table 4.1) when the experiment was carried out.
The experimental results of oral temperature for the four subjects are indicated in Figure 5.2. As shown in the figure, the oral temperatures, Toral have reached a constant state of around 35°C to 36°C before the immersion. The head-out immersion only induced small increase (about 1 to 1.5°C) in oral temperature. After the immersion, the oral temperature slightly increased in the first 1 to 2 minutes and then decreased slowly and returned to pre-immersion values within 20 minutes of leaving the water.
Subject B, C and D show very consistent results whereas there was not so good result was taken from subjects A. The inconstant of experimental data is due to the difficulty of oral
affected the accuracy of temperature measurement.
Mean Skin Temperature
Time (minute)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
28 30 32 34 36 38 40
Subject A Subject B Subject C Subject D
PRE-IMMERSION WATER IMMERSION RECOVERY
Figure 5.1 Experiment Results: Mean Skin Temperature of Different Subjects
Oral Temperature
Time (minute)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
30 32 34 36 38 40
Subject A Subject B Subject C Subject D
PRE-IMMERSION WATER IMMERSION RECOVERY
Figure 5.2 Experiment Results: Oral Temperature of Different Subjects
Case 2
Figure 5.3 shows the experimental results of mean skin temperature for different water temperature conditions (44, 40 and 28°C). For water temperature of 44 and 40 °C, Tsk
increased sharply immediately upon immersion whereas Tsk decreased for water temperature of 28 °C. In the recovery phase, for higher water temperature of 44 and 40 °C, Tsk fell sharply to normal mean skin temperature of around 35°C in 5 minutes time and kept on decreasing slowly until it reached a constant state at the end of recovery phase. On the other hand, for lower water temperature of 28 °C, Tsk kept on decreasing and only reached stable Tsk at the end of recovery phase.
The oral temperature profiles are given in Figure 5.4. It is obvious that Toral increased tremendously from 35.0 °C upon immersion to 39.6 °C at the end of immersion. For water temperature of 40 °C, even though the data is inconstant (increasing and decreasing) from time to time, it can be seen clearly that Toral increased in water immersion phase and decreased after the immersion. The experimental results of Toral for water temperature of 28 °C were rather inconstant, but in generally it fluctuated at the line of oral temperature of 35°C. This indicates that there was no significant change of oral temperature profile for the immersion of 28°C water temperature condition. The inconstant of experimental data is due to the same reason as indicated in 5.1 Experiment – Case 1. This also suggests that thermocouple is not a good device to measure oral temperature.
Mean Skin Temperature
Time (minutes)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
Experiment: T water = 44 C Experiment: T water = 40 C Experiment: T water = 28 C
PRE-IMMERSION WATER IMMERSION RECOVERY
Figure 5.3 Experiment Results: Mean Skin Temperature of Different Water Temperature Conditions
Core Temperature
Time (minnute)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Experiment : T water = 44 C Experiment : T water = 40 C Experiment : T water = 28 C RECOVERY
WATER IMMERSION PRE-IMMERSION
Figure 5.4 Experiment Results: Oral Temperature of Different Water Temperature Conditions
Case 3
Some non-academic researcher suggested that taking half body (until chest level) immersion bath can be more relaxing than whole body immersion. In order to see the physiological response of human in half body immersion, experiments were carried out.
Figure 5.5 are results for mean skin temperature Tsk with different part body of immersion i.e.
either whole body immersion with head out or half body immersion. It can be seen that in both cases, Tsk has same profile. However, in the water immersion phase, Tsk for head-out whole body immersion is much higher than half body immersion, which is about 2 °C higher at the end of immersion. In recovery phase, Tsk for half body immersion recovered to that of pre-immersion phase much faster than head-out whole body immersion.
The experimental oral profile for the both body part of immersion are given in figure 5.6.
Similarly, the less efficient performance of the measurement by thermocouple caused the experimental data rather inconstant. However, it still can be seen that Toral fluctuated around the temperature line of 36°C for half body immersion whereas in head-out whole body immersion, Toral increase slowly upon immersion and decreased to that temperature of pre-immersion phase after immersion.
The half body immersion that has much less increasing in Tsk and no increasing in Toral
and faster recovery suggest that half body immersion can be more relaxing bath and can cater for higher water temperature.
Mean Skin Temperature
Time (minute)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
Experiment : Whole body w/ head out Experiment : Half body
PRE-IMMERSION WATER IMMERSION RECOVERY
Figure 5.5 Experiment Results: Mean Skin Temperature of Different Part of Body Immersion
Oral Temperature
Time (minute)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Temperature (Celsius)
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Experiment: Whole body w/ head out Experiment: Half Body
PRE-IMMERSION WATER IMMERSION RECOVERY
Figure 5.6 Experiment Results: Oral Temperature of Different Part of Body Immersion