An Experimental Study on the Effects of Temperature and Humidity Levels on Human Thermal Comfort During Running

This article explores the influence of temperature and humidity on human thermal comfort and exercise performance during dynamic exercise. While previous studies have investigated the relationship between exercise state and thermal comfort, few have focused on transient changes during exercise. To examine these relationships, a series of experiments were conducted in an environmental chamber with precise control over temperature and humidity conditions. Participants were selected and tested under nine different scenarios at the same running speed. Questionnaires were filled out at six different time slots, from pre-exercise till 5 min after the exercise. The predicted mean vote (PMV) model was used to estimate the average thermal comfort. The results showed that, despite a relatively constant environment, participants’ feeling of thermal comfort changed as the exercise progressed and after sweating during the post-exercise course. The sensitivity and feeling of thermal comfort varied during the whole process under different scenarios. This study provides innovative survey methods for questionnaires and objective environmental data that can be analyzed to enhance understanding of changes in thermal comfort during exercise under different environmental variables. The findings also offer suggestions for the regulation of temperature and humidity in indoor gyms, and the accuracy of the PMV model in dynamic applications is verified.