Elucidation of the aging process of human heat adaptability and strategies for delaying it

本课题从全身协调性的角度探讨了人体热适应性随年龄变化的途径。我们的研究结果表明，在男性和女性中，与年龄相关的体温调节功能下降可能依次涉及输入系统、效应系统、输出系统和中枢系统，下肢汗腺功能下降可能从小腿到大腿，从后侧到前侧。我们的研究结果表明，年轻人的热损失反应随年龄的增长而减少，而热损失反应的性别差异和非热损失反应的组合输入。他们还认为，随着年龄的增长，夏季外周汗液功能的增强被推迟，皮肤血流量调节对夏季高温站立耐受性的贡献在老年人中较小，老年人在夏季更容易形成血栓。虽然我们没有找到延缓体温调节功能输入和输出系统老化的策略，但锻炼习惯的建立对效应系统是有效的。

This research project addressed the ways in which human heat adaptability changes with aging from the viewpoint of whole body coordination. Our findings suggest that in men and women, age-related decrement in thermoregulatory function may involve the input system, effector system, output system, and central system in that order, and the decrement in sweat gland function in the lower limbs may proceed from the lower legs to thigh and from posterior to anterior areas. Our results suggest that non-thermal heat loss response to combined input and sex differences in heat loss responses in young adults tended to decrease with aging. They also suggest that the enhancement of peripheral sweat function toward summer was delayed with aging, the contribution of the skin blood flow adjustment to orthostatic tolerance during the summer heat is smaller in older people, and older people are more prone to thrombogenesis in the summer. Although we failed to find a strategy to delay aging of input and output systems of the thermoregulatory function, the establishment of an exercise habit is effective for the effector system.