ABSTRACT
<p><b>Objectives:</b> Bathing in a bathtub made of hinoki cypress may promote relaxation. This study focuses on changes in autonomic nervous system function, and emotional assessments of individuals who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub.</p><p><b>Methods:</b> All 16 study participants bathed twice, as interventions in this study. The baths consisted of bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub and in a modular bathtub as the control experiment. During the study, participants wore a holter monitor. Before and after bathing, saliva samples were collected for cortisol measurement, and participants underwent a subjective emotional assessment, the Mood Check List-Short Form.2 (MCL-S.2). After bathing, an additional subjective emotional assessment, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), was performed.</p><p><b>Results and Discussion:</b> The emotional assessments in the MCL-S.2 indicated a significant increase in positive emotional scores (“pleasantness”) after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub. The VAS scores showed a significant decrease in the “feeling of fatigue” after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub, compared to bathing in a modular bathtub. These results suggest that study participants who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub experienced positive effects, and decreased feelings of fatigue. The salivary cortisol concentration decreased significantly after bathing in the hinoki cypress bathtub and in the modular bathtub. For both the hinoki cypress bathtub and the modular bathtub, the high frequency (√HF) values collected with the holter monitor after bathing, were higher than the √HF values collected prior to bathing. The results suggest that bathing in water temperatures of 38-39°C for 15 min enhances relaxation, and has a positive effect on the human body.</p>
ABSTRACT
<p><b>Objectives:</b> Bathing in a bathtub made of hinoki cypress may promote relaxation. This study focuses on changes in autonomic nervous system function, and emotional assessments of individuals who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub.</p><p><b>Methods:</b> All 16 study participants bathed twice, as interventions in this study. The baths consisted of bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub and in a modular bathtub as the control experiment. During the study, participants wore a holter monitor. Before and after bathing, saliva samples were collected for cortisol measurement, and participants underwent a subjective emotional assessment, the Mood Check List-Short Form.2 (MCL-S.2). After bathing, an additional subjective emotional assessment, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), was performed.</p><p><b>Results and Discussion:</b> The emotional assessments in the MCL-S.2 indicated a significant increase in positive emotional scores (“pleasantness”) after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub. The VAS scores showed a significant decrease in the “feeling of fatigue” after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub, compared to bathing in a modular bathtub. These results suggest that study participants who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub experienced positive effects, and decreased feelings of fatigue. The salivary cortisol concentration decreased significantly after bathing in the hinoki cypress bathtub and in the modular bathtub. For both the hinoki cypress bathtub and the modular bathtub, the high frequency (√HF) values collected with the holter monitor after bathing, were higher than the √HF values collected prior to bathing. The results suggest that bathing in water temperatures of 38-39°C for 15 min enhances relaxation, and has a positive effect on the human body.</p>
ABSTRACT
Objectives: Bathing in a bathtub made of hinoki cypress may promote relaxation. This study focuses on changes in autonomic nervous system function, and emotional assessments of individuals who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub.Methods: All 16 study participants bathed twice, as interventions in this study. The baths consisted of bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub and in a modular bathtub as the control experiment. During the study, participants wore a holter monitor. Before and after bathing, saliva samples were collected for cortisol measurement, and participants underwent a subjective emotional assessment, the Mood Check List-Short Form.2 (MCL-S.2). After bathing, an additional subjective emotional assessment, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), was performed.Results and Discussion: The emotional assessments in the MCL-S.2 indicated a significant increase in positive emotional scores (“pleasantness”) after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub. The VAS scores showed a significant decrease in the “feeling of fatigue” after bathing in a hinoki cypress bathtub, compared to bathing in a modular bathtub. These results suggest that study participants who bathed in a hinoki cypress bathtub experienced positive effects, and decreased feelings of fatigue. The salivary cortisol concentration decreased significantly after bathing in the hinoki cypress bathtub and in the modular bathtub. For both the hinoki cypress bathtub and the modular bathtub, the high frequency (√HF) values collected with the holter monitor after bathing, were higher than the √HF values collected prior to bathing. The results suggest that bathing in water temperatures of 38-39°C for 15 min enhances relaxation, and has a positive effect on the human body.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate autonomic function in stroke patients and to explore the relationship between patient's subjective symptoms and the results of objective tests regarding autonomic dysfunction. METHOD: Twenty stroke patients and 27 controls were recruited. Autonomic function was accessed by subjective checklist and by objective tests such as sympathetic skin response (SSR) and blood pressure (BP) response to positional change and to sustained hand-grip. Motor function was classified using the Brunnstrom stages: Group 1, stage 1 and 2; Group 2, stage 3 and 4; Group 3, stage 5 and 6. RESULTS: Seventy percent of patients had subjective changes in autonomic function after stroke. 50% and 65.5% of patients revealed autonomic insufficiency by BP responsetests and SSR, respectively. More than half of the patients who didn't have any subjective changes in autonomic function revealed autonomic insufficiency by objective tests. Group 1 of Brunnstrom stage in upper extremity showed significantly longer SSR latencies (p<0.05) and lower amplitudes than the controls (p<0.05). Group 1 and 2 of Brunnstrom stage in lower extremity showed significantly longer SSR latencies (p<0.05) and lower amplitudes than the controls (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Although stroke patients don't complain any subjective symptoms of autonomic dysfunction, they need to undergo objective autonomic function evaluations such as SSR and BP responses.