Influence of Indoor Humidity on Physiological Strain in Older Adults During a Simulated Heat Wave

Peak rectal temperature (15 min average) during exposure. Rectal temperature is measured continuously throughout the 10 hours of the simulated indoor overheating.

Areas under the curve (AUC) of rectal temperature during the 10 hour simulate indoor overheating.

Peak heart rate (15 min average) during exposure. Heart rate is measured continuously throughout the 10 hours of the simulated indoor overheating.

Areas under the curve (AUC) of heart rate during the 10 hour simulate indoor overheating.

Cardiac response to standing evaluated as the ratio between the highest R-wave to R-wave interval (lowest heart rate) measured at the 30th heart beat after standing from supine (+/- 5 beats) and the lowest R-wave to R-wave interval (highest heart rate) measured at the 15th heart beat after standing (+/- 5 beats). Cardiac response to standing will be evaluated twice, during two lying-to-standing tests (separated by 10 min of supine rest).

Systolic blood pressure response to standing evaluated as the difference in blood pressure measured between the standing and supine. Standing systolic blood pressure will be taken as the lowest value of those measured after 60 and 120 seconds of standing. Systolic response to standing will be evaluated twice, during two lying-to-standing tests (separated by 10 min of supine rest).

Root mean squared standard deviation of normal-to-normal R-wave to R-wave intervals (RMSSD) measured during 5 minutes of paced breathing (15 breaths/min) with participants in the supine position. RMSSD will be evaluated twice, during two paced breathing periods (separated by 4 min of supine rest).

Standard deviation of normal-to-normal R-wave to R-wave intervals (SDNN) measured during 5 minutes of paced breathing (15 breaths/min) with participants in the supine position. SDNN will be evaluated twice, during two paced breathing periods (separated by 4 min of supine rest).

Thermal comfort assessed via a visual analog scale ranging from extremely uncomfortable to extremely comfortable (midpoint: neutral).

Thermal sensation assessed via a visual analog scale ranging from extremely hot to neutral (midpoint: hot).

Felt arousal scale assessed via a visual analog scale ("How worked up are you?") ranging from "high arousal" to "low arousal".

Average hourly fluid consumption calculated by weighing participant water intake at the start and end of each hour of exposure (normalized to the exposure duration).

Change in plasma volume from baseline values calculated from duplicate measurements of hemoglobin and hematocrit at the start and end of each exposure using the technique by Dill and Costill

Systolic blood pressure measured in triplicate via automated oscillometry (~60 seconds between measures)

Rate pressure product, an index of myocardial work and strain, calculated as systolic blood pressure x heart rate.

Participants will be provided with a tablet device with the Sway Medical testing platform for the assessment of impulse control. Participants will be asked to respond to both "go" and "no-go" visual cues. In response to the "go" cue, participants will initiate a movement of the device.

Participants will be provided with a tablet device with the Sway Medical testing platform for the assessment of memory recall. Participants complete both a delayed recall test and a working memory test.

To assess postural stability, participants hold a tablet to their chest, then auditory cues guide participants through four consecutive stances, feet side by side, instep of one foot touching the big toe of the other foot, tandem stand with one foot in front of the other, heel touching toe, and stand on one foot. The balance assessment will be evaluated based on movement detected by an accelerometer integrated into the hardware of the tablet device (Sway Medical Inc).

To assess postural stability, participants will be asked to stand on a BTracks force plate with their feet spread out to shoulder width, hand on their hips and eyes closed. The assessment will comprise of four trials (one practice trial) lasting 20 seconds in length and 20 seconds between trials. Center of pressure (COP) vector data along vertical (y) and horizontal (x) axes will be summed for the total path excursion length (cm) during each trial.

Potential changes in mood (7 subscales of mood: tension, anger, depression, fatigue, confusion, vigor and esteem-related affect). The POMS-40 is a validated, self-administered questionnaire that examines seven distinct aspects of mood state across two positive subscales (Esteem-Related Affect, and Vigor) and five negative subscales (Fatigue, Tension, Confusion, Anger, and Depression), which are described across 40 distinct adjectives (reference). For each individual item, participants were asked to describe "how you feel right now" by responding using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = "Not at all", 1 = "A little", 2 = "Moderately", 3 = "Quite a lot", or 4 = "Extremely"). The values of items associated with a specific subscale (e.g., Fatigue) were summed to calculate its score.

Self-reported environmental reactions and medical symptomatology associated with prolonged heat exposure. The ESQ-IV is a validated 68-item, self-administered questionnaire that has been used successfully in identifying symptomatology during exposure to a wide variety of environmental conditions, including heat exposure [24, 25]. Participants are asked to assess and described "how you have been feeling today" by responding to each item using a 6-point Likert scale (0 = "Not at all", 1 = "Slight", 2 = "Somewhat", 3 = "Moderate", 4 = "Quite a bit", or 5 = "Extreme"). Total Symptom Score was calculated from this data by taking the sum of the intensity ratings from all 68 individual items using reverse scores for the three positive items from the list ("I Felt Good", "I Felt Alert", and "I Felt Wide Awake").

Karolinska sleepiness scale measures the subjective level of sleepiness at a particular time

Stanford sleepiness scale consists of only one item, where participant must identify one of seven statements that best represents their level of perceived sleepiness. It employs a scale of 1 to 7 with 1 = feeling wide awake and 7 = sleep onset soon