# Experimental study on physiological responses during interval exercise and the effects on thermal perception

## TL;DR

This study explores how the body responds during interval exercise in different thermal conditions and how these responses affect how people perceive temperature.

## Contribution

The study introduces a model using heart rate and calf skin temperature to predict thermal perception during interval exercise.

## Key findings

- Heart rate, sweat feeling index, and heat storage rate align with thermal sensation dynamics.
- Calf skin temperature is most strongly correlated with thermal perception.
- A model using heart rate and calf skin temperature predicts thermal perception with 89.8% accuracy.

## Abstract

The physiological response during interval exercise and its significance in determining thermal perception remain unclear. There is a paucity of quick and convenient thermal perception assessment methods in exercisers, which impedes the advancement of real-time thermal perception evaluation in exercise spaces. In this study, five thermal conditions were set up in a thermal chamber to simulate the thermal environment of a cold region and evaluate the dynamic physiological responses during interval exercise and their effect on temperature perception.The results showed that heart rate, sweat feeling index, and heat storage rate values were in line with thermal sensation dynamics. The calf’s skin temperature had the strongest correlation with thermal perception among the other skin temperatures. While heart rate was tightly linked to metabolic heat production, the calf’s skin temperature was affected by both exercise intensity and ambient temperature, which are directly related to thermal perception during interval exercise, and these two physiological can be tracked in real-time with portable devices. A model for predicting thermal perception was developed based on heart rate and the skin temperature of the calf, and the explanation rate was 89.8%.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00484-025-02993-6.