JAUE2014-055 Physiological effects associated with walking in summer urban environments

Abstract

Urban heat island (UHI) effects are problematic in many cities and may be exacerbated by the trend toward compact cities that assume a predominance of pedestrian traffic. UHI effects can influence thermoregulatory functions, and can include stress, heat stroke, and degradation of intellectual performance. Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), which has been employed to assess the risk of heat stroke, dose not focus on stress, which can induce fatigue, or performance degradation. Evaluation of physiological reactions to the outdoor thermal environment, the risk of heat stroke, and performance degradation is an important undertaking.
Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate human physiological responses, such as heart rate and high frequency variability, associated with fatigue and related to walking in an urban environment under various conditions.
 As a result, it was suggested that disturbance of heart rate can cause fatigue even under low WBGT conditions.