Effect of the mood of indoor activities on thermal comfort after winter commutes with different metabolic levels.

• Climate chamber experiments were conducted to simulate winter commute conditions. • The interactive effects of physical and mental activities on thermal comfort analyzed. • The skin and core temperatures were not significantly affected by mental activities. • Both metabolic rate and mood can affect TSV and TCV by changing heart rate. • Indoor mental status should also be considered when evaluating thermal comfort. The indoor thermal comfort requirements of occupants after winter commutes are subject to variations compared to stable indoor environments. However, the comprehensive effect of mood and physical activities on thermal responses is poorly understood. In this study, 20 sex-balanced participants were recruited to investigate differences in thermal perceptions and physiological responses to thermal environments after winter commutes in a climate chamber. Six different conditions with three different indoor seated activities after step-changing from two different outdoor physical activities were studied. Our findings revealed significant disparities in mood scores among participants engaged in activities such as quiet sitting, office work (typing), and entertainment (watching comedy). The thermal sensation and thermal comfort votes were significantly different between sitting quietly/working and entertainment cases after winter commute by running. Notably, both physical and mental activities exhibited the capacity to impact TSV through alterations in heart rate. This was particularly evident in the context of entertainment activities, where a positive mood was found to mitigate the increase in heart rate, as indicated by wrist pulse measurements, under conditions of elevated metabolic activity. Conversely, no significant differences were observed in skin and core temperatures across different indoor mental activities. This suggests that wrist pulse or heart rate could serve as a valuable additional parameter for enhancing the accuracy of real-time thermal comfort predictions in environments with a constant room temperature. A more satisfying indoor thermal environment could be dynamically created for the well-being of commuters based on the results of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]