Effect of gender and body part differences on skin temperature and bed micro-environment during sleep in a moderate temperature environment

This study analyzed the mean skin temperature (MST) and parameters of the bed micro-environment system (MHT, mean human-bed interface temperature; MBT, mean bed micro-environment temperature) between good and poor sleep quality periods in a moderate temperature environment in the spring, and investigated gender and body part (upper, middle, lower) differences in MST, MHT, and MBT during the good sleep quality period. The results showed that MST was significantly higher in the poor sleep quality period than that in the good one; in addition, MST, MHT, and MBT were significantly higher in females than in males during the good sleep quality period, indicating that females needed a higher bed micro-environment temperature than males; furthermore, MST, MHT, and MBT all showed a piecewise linear function with sleep time (rise-fall-rise). Moreover, MHT was more suitable than MBT for investigating sleep thermal comfort, and there were significant differences between the upper, middle, and lower parts of MHT (MHTUpper > MHTMiddle > MHTLower). Based on the above, this article presented a personalized adjustment method in sleep, which was suitable for air conditioners (phase control method) and temperature-controlled mattresses (phase and subregion control method). This method could improve thermal comfort during sleep and save energy.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the differences in mean skin temperature (MST) and parameters of the bed micro-environment system (MHT, mean human-bed interface temperature; MBT, mean bed micro-environment temperature) between good sleep quality and poor sleep quality periods in a moderate temperature setting in spring. The study also investigated the gender and body part differences in MST, MHT, and MBT during the good sleep quality period. The results showed that females required a higher bed micro-environment temperature and that MHT was a better indicator of sleep thermal comfort compared to MBT.