Older versus Younger Adults' Psychological Perception of Critical Environmental Limits
Open Access
- Author:
- Perez, Dylan
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- William Lawrence Kenney, Jr., Thesis Supervisor
Lacy Marie Alexander, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Thermal Perception
Heat Stress
Older vs Younger - Abstract:
- Purpose: The purpose of this present study was to compare older vs younger adults’ perceptions of heat and humidity at rest and while active. Comparing physiological responses in relation to perception of the environment may change with aging. Methods: 35 older adults (aged 65-92 yrs) and 41 younger adults (aged 18-29 yrs) were placed in an environmental chamber where they were either sat at rest or performed light activity on a stationary bike in warm-humid or hot-dry environments. In warm-humid tests ambient temperature was held constant and humidity increased progressively; in hot-dry tests absolute humidity was held constant and temperature increased. During the trial, subjects were given two scales that assess their perception of how hot or humid they felt every 5–10-minutes. Core (gastrointestinal) temperature (Tgi) was continuously measured and sent to a data acquisition system. A two-way ANOVA was performed to detect differences in thermal perception at the start, equilibration phase of Tgi, and inflection of Tgi once heat stress became uncompensable for younger compared with older adults. Results: At the start of the trial, the point of Tgi equilibration, and at the point of Tgi inflection, there were no significant age group differences in thermal or humidity perception Further, there were no differences in mean body temperature at the start, equilibration, or inflection points for older compared with younger adults. Conclusions: No differences were found between young adults and older adults’ perception of how hot or humid they were for a given mean body temperature. This suggests that while the older population is at an increased risk of heat-related illness, they may still be able to accurately perceive the environment in relation to their core and mean body temperature.