Women who often find themselves uncomfortable with the thermostat setting at work may finally know what to blame for their predicament.
Findings of a new study have revealed that most temperatures in office buildings are set using a formula that aimed to optimize thermal comfort, the body's neutral condition when it does not have to sweat because it is too hot or shiver to generate heat.
The thermal comfort model considers factors such as air temperature, air velocity, humidity, radiant temperature, metabolic rate and clothing. Researchers, however, pointed out that metabolic rates can vary depending on age, weight, size, fitness level and type of work done by a person. This poses a problem because the metabolic rate, or how fast the body generates heat, used in the calculation, relies on the body make-up of a man.
Women's metabolic rates, however, are slower because their bodies have more fat and they are smaller on average, which means that the temperatures set using the formula are not best suited for them.
The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday, said that the thermal comfort model currently used overestimates the resting heat production of women by up to 35 percent. While the female workers may opt for a 75 degree Fahrenheit temperature, office temperatures are often around 70 degrees.
"Standard values for one of its primary variables-metabolic rate-are based on an average male, and may overestimate female metabolic rate by up to 35 percent. This may cause buildings to be intrinsically non-energy-efficient in providing comfort to females," the researchers said. "Therefore, we make a case to use actual metabolic rates."
Joost van Hoof, from Fontys University of Applied Sciences, also said that women's wardrobe selection can also be a factor.
"Many men, they wear suits and ties, and women tend to dress sometimes with cleavage. The cleavage is closer to the core of the body, so the temperature difference between the air temperature and the body temperature there is higher when it's cold," Joost van Hoof said. "I wouldn't overestimate the effect of cleavage, but it's there."
The researchers said that it is high time for building engineers and government officials to reconsider how the ideal temperatures are calculated.
Study researcher Boris Kingma, from the Maastricht University Medical Center, said that earlier studies have shown that environments that are out of balance with the temperature that is needed by the body can have a negative impact on a person's productivity.
Photo: Philip Shoffner | Flickr
