Healthy excursions outside the thermal comfort zone
Open accessAbstract
The concepts of comfort and health may be related but are not synonyms. New knowledge has been gathered regarding metabolic health effects of temperature exposure outside the human thermal comfort zone. Mild cold and warm environments increase metabolism, thereby targeting obesity by counterbalancing excess energy intake. Furthermore, mild cold influences glucose metabolism. Ten days of intermittent mild cold exposure in type 2 diabetes patients increased insulin sensitivity, and thereby glucose handling by more than 40%. This is comparable with the best available pharmaceutical or physical activity therapies. Lastly, there are indications that cardiovascular parameters may be positively affected by regular exposure to heat and cold. Does this mean that we have to suffer from discomfort in order to become healthy? Probably not. Firstly, prolonged temporal excursions outside the thermal comfort zone result in acclimatization resulting in increased comfort ratings. Secondly, low or high temperatures in a dynamic thermal environment may be perceived as acceptable or even pleasant (evoking thermal alliesthesia). The study of dynamic thermal conditions is advocated: linking this to the adaptive comfort model, and monitoring these conditions in actual living conditions. This information is needed to support the design of healthy, comfortable and energy-friendly indoor environments.
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- Authors
- van Marken Lichtenbelt, W., Hanssen, M., Pallubinsky, H., Kingma, B., & Schellen, L.
- Affiliations
- Department of Human Biology, NUTRIM School, Maastricht University Medical Center
- Maastricht University Medical Centre (NL)
- Avans University of Applied Sciences (NL)
- Venue
- Building Research & Information
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-04-25
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 819-827
- ISSN
- 0961-3218 (ISSN-L)
- 1466-4321
- OpenAlex
- W2609909083
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 7.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Building Research & Information (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- TKI Solar Energy project (TEGBj13023)
- European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework programme (723032)
- EU FP7 (HEALTH-F2-2011-278373)
- Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (TOP 91209037)
- AgentschapNL
- TKI Energo
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Building Energy and Comfort Optimization
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Thermoregulation and physiological responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
- Keywords
- thermal comfort, metabolic health, cold exposure, warm environment, obesity, glucose metabolism, type 2 diabetes, insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular effects, acclimatization, adaptive comfort model, indoor environment design, energy efficiency
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