I'm looking at the comparison of under armour and cotton base layers on core/skin temp, sweat rate, and comfort. However, I do not have the equipment to measure exact sweat production; it would be good to see the point at which sweat occurs as well as monitor how much the participant sweats throughout maybe with a scale of how sweaty they think they are? Or by just noting the point at which I see sweat on the forehead? It seems like both these methods have some issues, so is there any other way that had been shown to be quite a valid test?
I believe you could quantify sweating through the galvanic skin response. It might be highly individualized, but with a baseline measurement, you could perhaps quantitatively measure changes in sweating for a given person and clothing condition.
You could weigh your participants before and after their exercise (I'm assuming this is what you are investigating) to get a rough index of whole body sweat rate. Just record the duration of exercise in order to calculate your rate (e.g., L per hour) and correct for any fluid intake, urine passed and sweat trapped in the clothes (also weigh shirts etc) before and after
There isn't really a 'subjective' measure of sweating but you could use a subjective rating of thermal discomfort or sensation (e.g., a 1-9 scale of very cold to very hot etc)
Thank you David! This is exactly what I ended up doing, currently undertaking my testing, but it's good to know that you agree with these methods!
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