Blood pressure and thermal responses to repeated whole body cold exposure: effect of winter clothing

The effect of outdoor clothing and repeated cold exposure on blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, and thermal sensation was studied in 16 young (18-34 years) and 8 middle-aged (35-51 years) normotensive participants. Four winter clothing ensembles were used: regular winter clothing without a hat, with a hat, with an extra pair of pants, and with a hat and an extra pair of pants. The participants were exposed four times to -5A degrees C for 15 min wearing different clothing ensembles in counterbalanced order and each cold exposure was followed by 25 min of rewarming at 25A degrees C. The results showed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased in cold and increased more when a hat was not used. Wearing hats not only reduced the blood pressure response during cold exposure, but also promoted faster recovery of forehead skin temperature and blood pressure. These findings are encouraging and warrant further investigations to better understand the benefits of wearing appropriate clothing in the winter, especially among older people and patients with cardiovascular diseases.