• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.219-223
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• 2019

Background: Ice cooling vests can cause tissue damage and have no flexibility. Therefore, these two undesirable properties of ice cooling vest were optimized, and the present study was aimed to compare the impact of the optimized ice cooling vest and a commercial paraffin cooling vest on physiological and perceptual strain under controlled conditions. Methods: For optimizing, hydrogel was used to increase the flexibility and a layer of the ethylene vinyl acetate foam was placed into the inside layer of packs to prevent tissue damage. Then, 15 men with an optimized ice cooling vest, with a commercial paraffin cooling vest, and without a cooling vest performed tests including exercise on a treadmill (speed of 2.8 km/hr and slope of %0) under hot ($40^{\circ}C$) and dry (40 %) condition for 60 min. The physiological strain index and skin temperature were measured every 5 and 15 minutes, respectively. The heat strain score index and perceptual strain index were also assessed every 15 minutes. Results: The mean values of the physiological and perceptual indices differed significantly between exercise with and without cooling vests (P < 0.05). However, the difference of the mean values of the indices except the value of the skin temperature during the exercises with the commercial paraffin cooling vest and the optimized ice cooling vest was not significant (P > 0.05). Conclusions: The optimized ice cooling vest was as effective as the commercial paraffin cooling vest to control the thermal strain. However, ice has a greater latent heat and less production cost.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2001

Cooling garments are being considered for reducing heat strain in hot environment. We evaluated the effectiveness of ice gel-based cooling vest in hot environment both resting and exercising. Four male subjects were exposed to heat(4$0^{\circ}C$, 50%RH) with vest or without it. The results were as follows; In case of the trial wearing ice gel-based cooling vest, total body weight loss, and local sweat volume were less than those without it. Mean skin temperature, rectal temperature, pulse, energy expenditure, temperature of inside clothes, and humidity of inside also were lower than those without cooling vest. By subjective thermal sensation, subjective humidity sensation, and thermal comfort sensation, it was proved that non-wearing vest decreased comfort than wearing that. These results suggested that wearing ice gel-based cooling vest reduced human heat strain in hot environment both resting and exercising.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.771-778
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• 2002

Cooling clothes especially cooling vest are being considered for as an efficient way to reduce heat strain under hot environment. But wearing ice gel or ice-based cooling vest caused discomfort to subjects due to the weight of vest. Therefore, this study was executed to find efficient cooling parts and to reduce vest weight by cooling only these parts. Two male subjects were exposed to heat(40$^{\circ}C$, 30%RH) with A type(breast+back+abdomen+waist), B type(breast+back+waist), C type(breast+back+abdomen) and D type(breast+back) cooling vest that distinguished with cooling part. The results were as follows; When subjects were C type and D type vest, sweat volume was less and skin temperature was low. Heart rate and rectal temperature were low in B type and D type. These results suggest that excessive cooling of breast and abdomen may exert a bad influence to health and cooling of back is desirable.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.591-599
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• 2017

It is well established that endurance performance is negatively affected by environmental heat stress. Numerous scientific investigations have attempted to improve performance in the heat with pre-cooling and per-cooling for endurance athletes. Some cooling strategies are more logistically challenging than others, and thus are often impractical for use in training or competition. The purpose of this study was to review the literature on the use of cooling interventions in the improvement of performance and recovery from exercise-induced heat stress. We undertook an examination that focused on the effects of pre-cooling and per-cooling on the improvement in endurance performance and the effects of post-exercise cooling on recovery. The benefits for pre-cooling and per-cooling strategies undertaken in the laboratory setting could be employed by athletes who compete in hot environmental conditions to improve performance. Most laboratory studies have shown improvements in endurance performance following pre-cooling and per-cooling, and in recovery following post-cooling. Cooling strategies such as cooling vest, neck cooling collar, menthol and ice slurry are practically relevant to sports field. Cooling interventions that can be applied frequently to reduce thermal strain prior to, during and directly after training appear to be the best effective strategy to improve performance and recovery. Future research is warranted to investigate the effectiveness of practical pre-cooling and per-cooling strategies in competition or field settings.