Effects of simulated clothing weight distribution on metabolic rate

Protective clothing is worn in many industrial and military situations. Although worn for protection from one or more hazards, the clothing can have secondary effects which may limit the ability of the worker to perform the tasks required of the job. As demonstrated in the previous chapter, increases in energy consumption of 10 to 20 % are not uncommon. A small number of other results in this range have been reported in the literature along with suggestions that the additional clothing weight of the protective garments may be contributing to the observed increases. However, despite these proposals little investigation has been undertaken. In the previous chapter a plot of the percentage increases in metabolic rate in relation to the garment weight, fitted with a linear regression line resulted in a 2.7 % increase in metabolic rate per kg of clothing weight, which is considerably higher than would be predicted for carrying load.