Effects of Age, Gender and Body Mass Index on Reaction to Air Condition

This study investigated the effect of age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) on reaction to air condition. Forty eight undergraduates (21 males and 27 females) randomly selected from Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria within the age range of 17-30 years participated in the study. 26 of them were of normal weight (BMI <23) and 22 were over-weight (BMI >24). They were exposed to an air conditioned room for two hours and then their reaction to cold measured using Response to Cold questionnaire. Employing t-test and ANOVA for data analyses, the results showed that body size, age, and gender had no statistically significant effect on reaction to cold condition while exposure to cold condition had a significant influence on both systolic and diastolic blood pressures of all participants.