Sex did not moderate cardiovascular or thermoregulatory responses to hot or cold virtual reality landscapes during exercise in neutral or hyperthermic environments (all interaction p > 0.05).
Do women have a heightened thermoregulatory response and increased cardiovascular strain to hot visual stimuli while exercising in neutral and hyperthermic environments compared to men?
Visual stimuli of hot and cold landscapes alter thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses to exercise, but these effects are similar between men and women.
p-value: p=> 0.05
The thermoregulatory and cardiovascular response to exercise is set based on the integration of sensory input from various thermal receptors located internally or at the skin. Visual input about one’s thermal environment and its contribution to thermoregulation is an under-researched area, and exploring how sex differences, if any, in temperature perception alter thermoregulatory responses and cardiovascular strain during exercise has not been widely studied. Given that women report being more sensitive to temperature than men, introducing hot or cold virtual landscapes may lead to a greater increase in perceived stress, leading to a different physiological response than men. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that women will have a heightened thermoregulatory response and increased cardiovascular strain to hot visual stimuli while exercising in neutral and hyperthermic environments, compared to men. Four women and five men (n=9) participated in this study (age: 21.2 ± 1.9 years, height: 172.6 ± 10.5 cm, mass: 71.4 ± 11.3 kg). After a preliminary visit, the participants completed 4 bouts of exercise at a fixed work rate (5W/kg of metabolic heat production) for 40 minutes in: 1) a neutral environment (21°C, 30% RH) while viewing cold VR (N+COLD), 2) a neutral environment (21°C, 30% RH) while viewing hot VR (N+HOT), 3) a hyperthermic environment (30°C, 30% RH) while viewing cold VR (H+COLD), and 4) a hyperthermic environment (30°C, 30% RH) while viewing hot VR (H+HOT). Thermoregulatory measurements included: core body temperature (Tcore: telemetric pill), whole body sweat loss (WBSL: pre-post body mass), and thermosensitivity (TS: ASHRAE). Cardiovascular strain was quantified by collecting heart rate (HR), arterial blood pressure (MAP), and rate-pressure product (RPP: SBP*HR) every 5 minutes. In our analysis of the neutral exercise conditions (N+COLD & N+HOT), sex did not moderate any condition effects for MAP, RPP, or ΔHR, (all interaction terms: p > 0.05). Additionally, the interactions involving sex for thermoregulatory variables (WBSL, ΔTcore, & TS) did not reach statistical significance (all interaction terms: p > 0.05). This was also true for the hyperthermic exercise conditions (H+COLD & H+HOT), where sex did not moderate any conditions for cardiovascular or thermoregulatory responses (interaction terms: p > 0.05). While our group has shown that visual stimuli can alter both thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses to exercise, it appears that these effects are similar between men and women. Although our hypothesis was not supported by the results of this study, sex differences in these responses to VR may be influenced by age, menstrual cycle, menopause, pregnancy, and other circumstances. More research is needed to fully address our questions. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Kamen et al. (Fri,) reported a other. Hot and cold virtual reality landscapes during exercise vs. Men vs Women was evaluated on Thermoregulatory (WBSL, ΔTcore, TS) and cardiovascular (MAP, RPP, ΔHR) responses (p=> 0.05). Sex did not moderate cardiovascular or thermoregulatory responses to hot or cold virtual reality landscapes during exercise in neutral or hyperthermic environments (all interaction p > 0.05).