TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioral adaptations to cold environments
T2 - A comparative study of active nomadic and modern sedentary lifestyles
AU - Khovalyg, Dolaana
AU - Chatterjee, Arnab
AU - Sellers, Adam J.
AU - van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development ( ZonMw ) programme for translational research, the Dutch Diabetes fund, and by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) . The authors thank multiple volunteers from Tuva who assisted with the research, particularly Maadyr Khovalyg, Urana Lyundup, Artur Oorzhak, and Moge-ool Oorzhak. We also thank Vibhu Baibhav from EPFL for assistance with data visualization and Guy Plasqui from Maastricht University for valuable discussions on the data processing from accelerometers. Finally, we thank all Tuvan and the Dutch participants for carefully following all our experimental procedures.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) programme for translational research, the Dutch Diabetes fund, and by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). The authors thank multiple volunteers from Tuva who assisted with the research, particularly Maadyr Khovalyg, Urana Lyundup, Artur Oorzhak, and Moge-ool Oorzhak. We also thank Vibhu Baibhav from EPFL for assistance with data visualization and Guy Plasqui from Maastricht University for valuable discussions on the data processing from accelerometers. Finally, we thank all Tuvan and the Dutch participants for carefully following all our experimental procedures.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/9/1
Y1 - 2023/9/1
N2 - Modern occupants hardly use their capacity to adapt to the wide range of thermal environments due to living in well-insulated buildings with indoor climatization. However, climate change with associated health hazards necessitates exploring the limits of human adaptability to extreme environments. Thus, this work compared the adaptive actions of Tuvan nomads living in lightweight yurts in Siberia and modern sedentary dwellers from the Netherlands. The descriptive analysis focused on differences in behavior, thermal exposure, and comfort expectations. Body accelerometry, skin, and exposure temperature were monitored over 3 days in wintertime using wearable sensors, while the indoor environment was monitored using stationary sensors. A significant difference in the daytime lifestyle between the Dutch and the Tuvans was reflected in the time spent indoors (66–100% vs. 15–51%), frequency of going outdoors (1–6 vs. 6–25 times), and the indoor clothing fashion (<1 clo vs. 1.1–2.3 clo). The nomadic population was exposed to a greater variation of the thermal environment (from -30 °C to +40 °C) in contrast to the Dutch (from 21 to 26 °C). Skin temperatures and the estimated Predictive Mean Vote (PMV) index indicated that Tuvans were relatively warm indoors than the Dutch, despite cold outdoors (mean -22 °C). The combination of greater clothing insulation, greater overall daily activity, elevated metabolic rate, and occasional overheating indoors defined such a difference. Nomads mainly relied on their actions rather than housing to keep themselves warm, and they had modest expectations of comfort, making them accept wider temperature variations, which was the crucial difference from modern expectations.
AB - Modern occupants hardly use their capacity to adapt to the wide range of thermal environments due to living in well-insulated buildings with indoor climatization. However, climate change with associated health hazards necessitates exploring the limits of human adaptability to extreme environments. Thus, this work compared the adaptive actions of Tuvan nomads living in lightweight yurts in Siberia and modern sedentary dwellers from the Netherlands. The descriptive analysis focused on differences in behavior, thermal exposure, and comfort expectations. Body accelerometry, skin, and exposure temperature were monitored over 3 days in wintertime using wearable sensors, while the indoor environment was monitored using stationary sensors. A significant difference in the daytime lifestyle between the Dutch and the Tuvans was reflected in the time spent indoors (66–100% vs. 15–51%), frequency of going outdoors (1–6 vs. 6–25 times), and the indoor clothing fashion (<1 clo vs. 1.1–2.3 clo). The nomadic population was exposed to a greater variation of the thermal environment (from -30 °C to +40 °C) in contrast to the Dutch (from 21 to 26 °C). Skin temperatures and the estimated Predictive Mean Vote (PMV) index indicated that Tuvans were relatively warm indoors than the Dutch, despite cold outdoors (mean -22 °C). The combination of greater clothing insulation, greater overall daily activity, elevated metabolic rate, and occasional overheating indoors defined such a difference. Nomads mainly relied on their actions rather than housing to keep themselves warm, and they had modest expectations of comfort, making them accept wider temperature variations, which was the crucial difference from modern expectations.
KW - Behavioral adaptation
KW - Dynamic thermal exposure
KW - Field study
KW - Indoor environment
KW - Thermal alliesthesia
KW - Traditional and modern lifestyles
U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110664
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110664
M3 - Article
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 243
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 110664
ER -