FRIDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) — Heavy body armor worn in medieval times may have made soldiers feel safe, but it also forced them to expend twice as much energy as usual, according to a new study.
To conduct the study, published July 20 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers measured the oxygen intake of fight interpretation experts from the Royal Armories Museum, who wore exact replicas of four different types of European armor during a range of walking and running exercises. By monitoring their breathing, the researchers were able to determine how much energy they used.
“Being wrapped in a tight shell of armor may have made soldiers feel safe,” said study co-investigator Dr. Federico Formenti, of the University of Auckland in New Zealand, in the news release. “But you feel breathless as soon as you begin to move around in medieval armor, and this would likely limit a soldier’s resistance to fight.”
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