ORIGINAL ARTICLE Male and female upper body sweat distribution during running measured with technical absorbents George Havenith Æ Alison Fogarty Æ Rebecca Bartlett Æ Caroline J. Smith Æ Vincent Ventenat Accepted: 19 November 2007 / Published online: 7 December 2007 Ó Springer-Verlag 2007 Abstract Body sweat distribution over the upper body in nine clothed male and female runners of equal fitness while running at 65% _ V O 2max and subsequent 15-min rest in a moderate climate (25°C, 53% rh) was investigated using technical absorbent materials to collect the sweat produced. No significant difference in whole body mass loss (male 474 SD 80; female 420 SD 114 g m -2 h -1 ) nor surface weighted average of all tested zones for exercise (male 636 SD 165; female 565 SD 222 g m -2 h -1 ) nor rest (male 159 SD 46; female 212 SD 75 g m -2 h -1 ) were observed. Local sweat rate (LSR) ranges were large and overlapped substantially in most areas. Males showed higher LSR for the mid-front (P \ 0.05), sides (P \ 0.05), and mid lateral back (P \ 0.01) compare to females. Both sexes showed similar sweat distribution patterns over the upper body with some exceptions. Males showed higher relative (local to overall) sweat rates than females for the mid lateral back (P \ 0.001), while it was lower for the upper arm (P \ 0.001), lateral lower back (P \ 0.05), and upper central back (P \ 0.05). Sweating in both sexes was highest along the spine, and higher on the back as a whole than the chest as a whole. Upper arm sweat rate was lowest. Males showed a higher ratio of highest to lowest LSR (4.4 vs. 2.8; P \ 0.05). The present study has provided more detailed information, based on more subjects, on upper body sweat distribution than previously available, which can be used in clothing design, thermo-physiological modelling, and thermal manikin design. Keywords Sweating  Sex  Gender  Exercise  Regional  Clothing Introduction The study of regional sweat rates has gained renewed interest for developments in sportswear and outdoor clothing, where with advancing textile technology a more regionalised design is now possible. Also the development of more sophisticated sweating thermal manikins, which are now able to simulate sweat production in different body zones, require such data, as do developers of mathematical models of human thermoregulation, where they want to include regional differences. The present study was initi- ated with these applications in mind, and will attempt to chart regional sweat rates on the upper body, covering the whole torso skin area and the upper arms. In addition, attention will be given on how these sweat rates are dif- ferent between a group of males and females and how the sex of the participants affects the sweat distribution. Differences in whole body sweat rates between sexes are well investigated, with most research indicating lower overall sweat rates in females linked to a higher core and skin temperature setpoint for sweating in the females (Bar- Or 1998; Bittel and Henane 1975; Cunningham et al. 1978; Fox et al. 1969; Haslag and Hertzman 1965; Wyndham et al. 1965). Others, studying males and females at equal relative workloads, or of equal fitness levels, observed similar sweat rates in absolute values or when expressed as Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00421-007-0636-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. G. Havenith (&)  A. Fogarty  R. Bartlett  C. J. Smith Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK e-mail: G.Havenith@lboro.ac.uk V. Ventenat Centre de Recherche DECATHLON, Villeneuve d’Asq, France 123 Eur J Appl Physiol (2008) 104:245–255 DOI 10.1007/s00421-007-0636-z