• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.311-317
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• 2011

The goal of this study was to clarify effects of sleep restriction on a diurnal rhythm of salivary cortisol and DHEA levels in Korean adolescents.83 middle school students were recruited to participate in restricted sleep period group (less than 4h/day) or unrestricted sleep period group (from 6h/day to 7h/day). Both were 14 to 17 years old. They were instructed to keep the sleep-awakening schedule and sampling protocol. Saliva samples of cortisol and DHEA were collected at 8h, 12h, 16h and 20h. Salivary hormones were analysed with salivary cortisol(or DHEA) EIA kit according to a fixed assay protocol. Cortisol levels of restricted sleep period group and unrestricted sleep period group significantly decreased according to the sampling times. Cortisol levels of sleep restricted group was significantly higher than those of usual sleep group at all sampling times. At 8h, DHEA levels of both groups were significantly higher than those at 12h, 16h and 20h. However, DHEA levels of restricted sleep period group did not differ from those of unrestricted sleep period group at all sampling times.Cortisol and DHEA levels of both group showed the typical diurnal rhythm regardless of sleep status. Restricted sleep may increased cortisol release, not DHEA release, which indicated a changed HPA axis.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.783-791
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• 2009

This study was conducted to examine my hypothesis that how teacher's teaching style influences emotional and physiological states of students in the secondary school science classroom. Sixty healthy secondary school students were participated in this study and divided into two groups: manipulation and non-manipulation. Each group underwent different styles of teaching on the scientific hypothesis-generating of com starch experiment. Before and after the class, the strength of emotion was measured using adjective emoticon check lists and they extracted their saliva sample for salivary hormone analysis. Here are the results of this study. First, the intensity of positive emotions in the manipulation group was significantly stronger than the one in the non-manipulation group, whereas the intensity of negative emotions in the non-manipulation group was significantly stronger than the one in the manipulation group. Second, the cortisol level, an indicator of stress, was decreased in the manipulation group whereas it was increased in non-manipulation group. Third, the quality of scientific hypotheses which is generated by students during the class had no connection with types of instructions. Fourth, this study found significantly negative correlation between students' emotional intensity of interest and concentration changes of salivary cortisol. Therefore, the different teaching styles have influence upon students' attitude and interest in science.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.71-83
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• 2021

This study conducted a survey and analysis of saliva cortisol and psychological questionnaire in order to find out the psychological and physiological changes according to the experience of the care farm targeting fire-fighters. In the program to experience care farms, the total cortisol concentration as a stress hormone decreased after participation, and there was a statistically significant difference (z = 2.858, p <.01). As a result of the risk distribution analysis of the level of post-traumatic stress symptoms of firefighting officials who participated in the program to experience care farms, the high-risk group was found to be as high as 31.2%. In addition, the relative explanatory power of the independent variables that influence the loyalty of the care farm experience activity was found to have an effect in the order of program satisfaction, age, and reliability, and among them, program satisfaction was found to be the most influential variable. Therefore, it is believed that the care farm experience activities as the application of the healing program will have a positive effect on the activation of care farms in each region and the relief of stress symptoms of fire-fighters.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.294-304
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate objectively measured physical activity (PA) in institutionalized older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to elucidate the influence of autonomic nervous function, salivary cortisol, and PA on cognitive functions based on neurovisceral integration model. Methods: Overall cognitive function was evaluated using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and executive function was evaluated using semantic verbal fluency test and clock drawing test. Actigraph for PA, HRV and sAA for autonomous function, and the geriatric depression scale for depression were used. Saliva specimens were collected in the morning for sAA and cortisol. Results: Ninety-eight older adults from four regional geriatric hospitals participated in the study. They took 4,499 steps per day on average. They spent 753.93 minutes and 23.12 minutes on average in sedentary and moderate-to-vigorous activity, respectively. In the multiple regression analysis, lower salivary cortisol level (β = - .33, p = .041) and greater step counts (β = .37, p = .029) significantly improved MMSE score. Greater step count (β = .27, p = .016) also exerted a significant influence on verbal fluency, and greater sAA (β= .35, p = .026) was significantly associated with a better clock drawing test result. Conclusion: Salivary cortisol, sAA and physical activity were significantly associated with cognitive functions. To prevent older adults from developing dementia, strategies are needed to increase their overall PA amount by decreasing sedentary time and to decrease salivary cortisol for cognitive function, and to maintain their sympathetic nervous activity for executive function.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2016

Background: Previous research has shown that paramedics are exposed to risks in the form of injuries to the musculoskeletal system. In addition, there are studies showing that they are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and psychiatric diseases, which can partly be explained by their constant exposure to stress. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the use of shoulder straps decreases physical effort in the form of decreased heart rate and cortisol concentration. Methods: A stretcher with a dummy was carried by 20 participants for 400 m on two occasions, one with and one without the shoulder straps. Heart rate was monitored continuously and cortisol samples were taken at intervals of 0 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. Each participant was her or his own control. Results: A significant decrease in heart rate and cortisol concentration was seen when shoulder straps were used. The median values for men (with shoulder straps) at 0 minutes was 78 bpm/21.1 nmol/L (heart rate/cortisol concentration), at 15 minutes was 85 bpm/16.9 nmol/L, and at 60 minutes was 76 bpm/15.7 nmol/L; for men without shoulder straps, these values were 78 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, 93 bpm/21.9 nmol/L, and 73 bpm/20.5 nmol/L. For women, the values were 85 bpm/23.3 nmol/L, 92 bpm/20.8 nmol/L, and 70 bpm/18.4 nmol/L and 84 bpm/32.4 nmol/L, 100 bpm/32.5 nmol/L, and 75 bpm/25.2 nmol/L, respectively. Conclusion: The use of shoulder straps decreases measurable physical stress and should therefore be implemented when heavy equipment or a stretcher needs to be carried. An easy way to ensure that staff use these or similar lifting aids is to provide them with personalized, well-adapted shoulder straps. Another better option would be to routinely sewn these straps into the staff's personal alarm jackets so they are always in place and ready to be used.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.411-422
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• 2020

Background and objective: This study was conducted to find out the effects of healing farm resources and participant satisfaction on the level of stress and loyalty. Methods: The experiment was conducted on 18 subjects who participated in agro-healing activities (aged 49.5 years on average) and the concentration of cortisol, the level of stress and satisfaction with the services and program of a healing farm. The healing-agriculture activities were performed once a week, a total of 7 sessions, for 90 minutes and their saliva was collected before and after the activities. Results: The concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, was statistically significantly reduced after the healing-agriculture activities in 5 out of 7 sessions. The total cortisol concentration showed statistically significant differences. The 6th session was comprised of different activities, compared to others, such as understanding weeds, managing a garden and making a pizza with fermentation enzymes, and the level of cortisol in the 6th session was the lowest after participating in the agro-healing activities, which indicated that the activities have the positive effect of lowering the level of stress. The level of stress was lowered from 18.39 to 16.78, which was consistent with the results of the concentration of cortisol. The level of satisfaction in the last session was below 50%, which indicated that the owner of the farm might be a little inexperienced in education and marketing on information and safety. The variables of participants including stress and satisfaction with services showed a strong influence on their loyalty. Conclusion: Satisfaction with services and loyalty to the healing farm showed a very high correlation, which was statistically significant. It also showed that participants' stress level and satisfaction with the services and program of the healing farm have a strong influence on their loyalty.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.385-393
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of forest activities on the cortisol concentrations in the body and emotional vocabulary of kindergarteners. The participants were 36 kindergarten children aged 4-5, 17 in the control group and 19 in the experimental group. Forest activities consisted of six steps according to the level of kindergarteners, and the program was carried out at G City Environment Training Institute. Before and after the experiment, the children's emotional vocabulary was self-reported and salivary cortisol was analyzed to evaluate changes in the body's stress hormones. As a result, in the control group, positive words increased significantly from 0.14 to 1.53 (p=.003), but the decrease in negative words was not significant (p=.059). In the experimental group, positive words increased significantly from 0.47 to 2.84 after forest activities (p=.000). Negative words decreased significantly from 1.94 to 0.00 after forest activities (p=.000). In the analysis of salivary cortisol, the change in salivary cortisol concentrations was not significant (p=.667) in the control group, merely decreasing from 0.179 ㎍/dl to 0.161 ㎍/dl. However, the experimental group showed a significant decrease from 0.202 ㎍/dl to 0.161 ㎍/dl after forest activities (p=.049). These results suggest that forest play activities may be helpful in encouraging young children's emotional development by increasing positive vocabulary and decreasing negative vocabulary and reducing stress in kindergarteners.

• Stress
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.199-204
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• 2019

Backgoround: This study aimed to examine the influence of anxiety sensitivity on task performance and physiological stress response, and to assess the effect of depression in this process for the youth population. Methods: We presented participants with an uncontrollable stress situation where they were required to perform mental arithmetic, based on the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). A total of 29 participants volunteered for this study. They completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to measure their levels of anxiety sensitivity and depression. Two saliva samples, one before and one after the experiment, were collected to assess the change in cortisol levels as an index of physiological stress response. Results: Participants with high anxiety sensitivity showed lower performance on the mental arithmetic tasks and a significant increase in a salivary cortisol level, compared to those with low anxiety sensitivity. Furthermore, cortisol levels showed a remarkable increase where high anxiety sensitivity was coupled with depressed mood. In other hands, the levels of cortisol remained unchanged despite high anxiety sensitivity with low depressed mood. Conclusions: Our results confirm that the interaction between anxiety sensitivity and depression affects participants' task performance and stress response, as measured through behavioral tasks and physiological data with self-report indices. Also, through the physiological data, we examined that those who have a high level of anxiety sensitivity showed maladaptive responses under high stressful situation.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2012

Objective : Cortisol, a product of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis), is one of our defensive mechanisms in response to stress. The level of cortisol in the saliva is a major biomarker of the stress response by HPA axis and shows diurnal variation. We measured salivary cortisol level and its diurnal variation to compare the pattern of changes by degree of burn and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) score. Methods : We measured the salivary cortisol levels of 37 subjects hospitalized in the burn center at our facility from March to June 2012. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at 6 : 00 AM and at 7 : 00 PM. All subjects were tested for CAPS to evaluate the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to evaluate and to control the coexisting depression. Results : Factorial ANOVA test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in terms of the effect of the interaction between the degree of burn and the patient's CAPS score. Unlike the mild burn group, in the severe burn group, the patients who had a low CAPS score didn't show a normal diurnal variation and the patients who had a high CAPS score showed the normal diurnal variation. After a few months follow up, we found a greater degree of psychiatric complications in severe burn patients that had a lower cortisol stress response. Conclusion : We suppose that the disappearance of the stress response changes in salivary cortisol seen in the severe burn group may be caused by an impaired stress response. Through followed observation of the subjects, this disruption of cortisol response may cause psychiatric problems afterwards.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.50-58
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• 2014

Objectives : The aim of this study was to analyze relationship between post-stroke depression (PSD) and cold, heat, deficiency and excess patterns. Methods : Twenty-eight PSD patients were recruited from STROKE center and measured with questionnaires for cold, heat, deficiency and excess patternvalues and saliva for cortisol awakening response (CAR). Saliva samples were collected immediately, 15, 30 and 45 min after awakening. In addition, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were conducted for PSD severity. We conducted correlation analysis to find the relationship between cold, heat, deficiency and excess patterns and CAR or BDI and HDRS. Results : Deficiency and excess patterns werepositively correlated with area under the curve with respect to the increase (AUCi), but not with area under the curve with respect to the global (AUCg), in CAR. Furthermore, it was negatively correlated with BDI and HDRS, while cold and heat patterns were not correlated with CAR, BDI and HDRS. Conclusions : In terms of deficiency and excess patterns, the higher the PSD severity, the higher the deficiency and the lower the PSD severity, the higher the excess. However, there was not a significant relationship between PSD and cold and heat patterns.