Pages 604-608 in P. Bjerregaard et al., eds. Part II, Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Harstad, Norway, June 5-9, 2000. International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 2001;60(4)
Department of Physiology and Thule Institute, University of Oulu
Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland
Source
Pages 604-608 in P. Bjerregaard et al., eds. Part II, Proceedings of the 11th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Harstad, Norway, June 5-9, 2000. International Journal of Circumpolar Health. 2001;60(4)
We exposed six healthy men to 1-h cold air (10° C) daily for 11 days and measured adrenal and thyroid hormones and TSH in serum before and after the cold air exposure on days 0, 5, and 10. We observed that on days 0, 5, and 10 the resting levels and the levels after the cold exposure in serum adrenaline, thyroid hormones, and TSH did not significantly change, whereas the serum noradrenaline levels showed a significant (2.2- to 2.5-fold) increase in response to the cold air exposures. The increases were similar, indicating that the subjects did not show signs of habituation in their noradrenaline responses. Therefore the 1-h cold air exposure is not sufficiently intensive to reduce the cold-induced sympathetic response.