Salivary cortisol as a marker for assessing the problem-focused coping style of stressed students during the first year of university: An experimental study.

Background and Aims: First-year students encounter substantial stress when they enter university. Their mental health often depends upon how well they cope with the stress of university life. Salivary components are well known to reflect the stress status of the students; however, the relationship between salivary components and coping styles remains unknown. Methods: In this study, 54 healthy first-year students voluntarily completed a questionnaire that addressed three different coping styles: problem-focused, emotion-focused, and escape-focused. We simultaneously collected salivary samples from students in the classroom and measured concentrations of salivary cortisol and α-amylase by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays over 4 months. Results: We examined the relationship between coping style and salivary cortisol concentrations and found that the mean salivary cortisol concentrations were significantly lower in students who had a higher Likert-type score for the problem-focused coping style than in students who had a lower score. The difference in the mean cortisol concentrations between the two groups increased over time. However, we observed no apparent correlation between α-amylase concentrations and Likert scores of the three coping styles. Conclusion: These results suggest that salivary cortisol concentrations might reflect the stress-coping status, particularly involving the problem-focused coping style.

Facilitatory Effect of Extending the Course Duration on Dissemination of Educational Content.

The physiological practice course at Saitama Medical University provides students with the opportunity to learn physiological principles through wet labs and discussions. To develop a more effective method for maximizing learning outcomes, we extended the course's schedule from one day (1d) to two days (2d) per theme, evaluated self-administered questionnaires between two different years (pre and post-change), and examined whether the increased course length affected learning outcomes. Within the 2018 curriculum year, every theme of the course was completed in a day, including experiments in the wet lab and discussions. In 2019, each theme was assessed for two days. The second-year undergraduate medical students anonymously submitted the self-assessment questionnaire that addressed several aspects, such as understanding of the theme, through a 5-point Likert scale. The average Likert scores varied from 4 to 4.5 point for all questions, and significant differences were not found between the 1d and 2d courses. However, the ratio of students with the highest points increased for one question of the 2d course: 43.6% (1d) to 53.4% (2d) for understanding. Further, the standard deviation (SD) values decreased in the 2d course for every question: 0.29 (1d) to 0.15 (2d) for interest, 0.33 (1d) to 0.19 (2d) for understanding, 0.30 (d) to 0.17 (d) for communication, 0.34 (1d) to 0.19 (2d) for general evaluation. This reduction in the SD values indicated that the educational content was imparted more efficiently to students in the 2d course. Thus, we concluded that extending the course time facilitated dissemination of educational content for every theme. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-022-01563-4.

Relationship between psychosomatic complaints and circadian rhythm irregularity assessed by salivary levels of melatonin and growth hormone.

BACKGROUND: In university health care settings, students with psychosomatic complaints often have chronotypic problems. For this reason, we investigated a potential connection between psychosomatic complaints and circadian rhythm irregularity assessed by salivary levels of melatonin and growth hormone. METHODS: Fifteen healthy students between 21 and 22 years of age were examined for physiological parameters of chronotypes based on melatonin and growth hormone secretion patterns, using a fluorescence enzyme immunoassay. Salivary samples were collected from subjects at home five times each day (20:00, 24:00, 04:00, 08:00, and 12:00 h). In addition, the subjects rated their psychosomatic symptoms twice (at 08:00 and 20:00 h). RESULTS: A group with irregular circadian rhythm of melatonin (ICR) showed more psychosomatic complaints than a group with the regular circadian rhythm (RCR), especially for anxiety. CONCLUSION: Psychosomatic symptoms, particularly anxiety, may be associated with irregularity in melatonin and growth hormone rhythms, which can be altered by basic lifestyle habits even in healthy students.

A possible connection between psychosomatic symptoms and daily rhythmicity in growth hormone secretion in healthy Japanese students.

BACKGROUND: Students suffering from psychosomatic symptoms, including drowsiness and feelings of melancholy, often have basic lifestyle problems. The aim of this study was to investigate whether psychosomatic complaints may be related to circadian dysfunction. METHODS: We examined 15 healthy students (4 men and 11 women) between 21 and 22 years old. To assess the presence of psychosomatic symptoms among the subjects, we developed a self-assessment psychosomatic complaints questionnaire consisting of five items pertaining to physical symptoms and five items concerning mental symptoms. The subjects rated their psychosomatic symptoms twice a day (08:00 and 20:00 h). We also assessed growth hormone secretion patterns by fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA). Salivary samples were collected from the subjects at home five times a day (20:00, 24:00, 04:00, 08:00, and 12:00 h) in Salivette tubes. RESULTS: The results indicated a relationship between the self-assessment scores and the salivary levels of growth hormone. Subjects with high self-assessment scores showed significant variability in growth hormone secretion over the day, whereas subjects with low self-assessment scores did not. CONCLUSION: Psychosomatic symptoms may be associated with circadian dysfunction, as inferred from blunted rhythmicity in growth hormone secretion.

Relationship of subjective chronic fatigue to academic performance.

Psychophysiological variables which affect the activity of schoolchildren with subjective chronic fatigue were studied. For 32 Japanese elementary school children, 15 boys and 17 girls in Grade 4, the major finding was that the majority of children with subjective chronic fatigue were less active in school. The motor and academic performance of children with greater subjective chronic fatigue were significantly inferior to those of normal children. Good learning was associated with less drowsiness. These findings suggest that subjective chronic fatigue is closely related to daily activities, especially adjustment to school.