AILEEN’S UNIFORM ATLAS
The Pulse is pleased to present Aileen’s Uniform Atlas, a recurring feature written by Aileen Out.
Out is the owner of Prettybusiness, a news blog in the Netherlands that focuses exclusively on work clothing.
That heavy work clothing can be exhausting sounds logical. But how much does the weight of clothing actually influence the energy expenditure of the wearer? Researchers at Loughborough University in the UK tested various types of work clothing. In this column, I will tell you about the research results and how much energy is consumed per kilogram of clothing weight.
Completing an obstacle course in work clothing
For the study ; “The effects of protective clothing and its properties on energy consumption during different activities,” two groups completed an obstacle course. The first group wore a clothing package weighing 1.57 kilograms, consisting of cotton work pants and a T-shirt, military boots, and wool socks. This package was supplemented with 14 different types of work clothing, such as firefighting suits, a mountain rescue suit, and military uniforms.
The other group also completed the obstacle course but did so in normal clothing. They wore a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and sports shoes, which together weighed 0.65 kilograms.
Wearers get exhausted with double-layer work clothing
Both groups had to perform various reaching, bending, squatting, and crawling movements during the course. They also walked on a treadmill at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour. During these activities, their bodies were measured using various equipment.
The research showed that the wearers of two layers of work clothing consumed the most energy during the course. The clothing package with two layers, weighing 5.86 kilograms, resulted in a metabolic rate of 18.7 percent. This was even more than the firefighting suits, which weighed 7 and 6.66 kilograms, with metabolic rates of 14.5 and 15.7 percent, respectively. However, on the treadmill, participants consumed the most energy when wearing a firefighting suit, with a metabolic rate of 20.9 percent.
During the course, a military suit with a waterproof jacket was found to be the most comfortable. This clothing weighed only 3.51 kilograms and resulted in less than 5 percent energy consumption. During the walking test, the mountain rescue suit caused the same energy consumption as the military suit during the obstacle course. This suit, consisting of a jacket and pants styled like a ski suit, weighed 4.14 kilograms, just slightly more.
Kilogram equals 1 percent
According to the researchers, about half of the energy consumption is influenced by the weight of the work clothing. Despite a garment performing differently in various activities, the researchers believe there is a guideline. For every kilogram of work clothing, the wearer consumes approximately 1 percent more energy.
Keep in mind that layers can be very practical for different weather conditions but can also exhaust the wearer.
