We investigated dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) secretion in response to acute psychosocial stress and the relations of DHEA secretion to cortisol secretion, cardiovascular activity, and negative mood ...changes. Thirty-three male students (mean age 22.6 years) were subjected to the psychosocial stress test “Trier Social Stress Test” (TSST), in which the participants were asked to deliver a speech and perform a mental arithmetic task in front of two audiences. Collections of saliva, measurements of blood pressure and heart rate, and assessments of negative mood by visual analog scales were conducted before, during, and after TSST. Acute psychosocial stress significantly increased salivary DHEA level by an average of 60% immediately after TSST. The peak of DHEA concentration preceded that of cortisol concentration by about 10
min. DHEA response was moderately correlated to cortisol response (
r
=
.34,
r
s
=
.49) but not to cardiovascular response. Lower DHEA level and elevated cortisol/DHEA ratio during TSST were significantly and moderately correlated with increased negative mood during and after TSST. These results indicated that an acute increase in DHEA concentration under stressful situations might be partly mediated by the activity of hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis and could have some significance in the improvement of negative mood.
In this study, we investigated levels and relative ratios of adrenal hormones (including cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone DHEA, and DHEA-sulfate DHEA-S) and their psychophysiological correlates under ...acute psychosocial stress in individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Fifty-three college students participated in the study (male: 42, female: 11; mean age: 22.64years), including 13 individuals with IBS (IBS group) and 40 individuals without IBS (control group). The participants were exposed to a standardized laboratory stressor, which included delivering a speech and performing a mental arithmetic task. We measured subjective stress levels and salivary cortisol, DHEA, and DHEA-S levels at relevant time points before, during, and after the tasks.
DHEA-S level and the DHEA-S/DHEA ratio in the IBS group were significantly lower than those in the control group, and the cortisol/DHEA-S ratio in the IBS group was higher than that in the control group throughout the experiment. In the IBS group, the appraisal of a threat was positively correlated with cortisol levels (r=0.61), and the appraisal of controllability was negatively correlated with cortisol levels (r=−0.64) and with the cortisol/DHEA ratio (r=−0.71). The control group showed a significant positive correlation between the appraisal of threat and cortisol levels (r=0.32).
The present study indicates that individuals with IBS had lower DHEA-S levels, and that their stressful cognitive appraisals under acute psychosocial stress caused the effects of cortisol to dominate. This adrenal hormone response may be involved in exacerbating abdominal symptoms in individuals with IBS.
► This study is the first to measure both DHEA and DHEA-S in individuals with IBS. ► DHEA-S level in the IBS group was lower than that of the control group. ► “Uncontrollability” was related to the cortisol/DHEA ratio only in the IBS group.
Objectives: Geriatric facility residents experience easy decrease of their quality of life (QOL) compared with elderly people cared for in their own homes owing to environmental changes. Because ...complementary and alternative medicine is useful to improve QOL, a simple manual for hand massage for inexperienced volunteers was developed, and the physical and psychological effects of this method were examined. Methods: Thirty-six female geriatric facility residents (mean age, 84.5 years) were chosen. They were divided into two groups: the control and hand-massaged groups. In the hand-massaged group, females received 15 min hand massage from volunteers in accordance with a simple manual. No hand massage was performed in the control group. Before and after the treatment, a survey using a questionnaire (7 items; e.g., tension, fatigue) and physiological measurements (e.g., blood pressure, hand skin temperature), and measurement of cortisol and chromogranin A levels in saliva samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were carried out. Data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the effects of group and time on the dependent variables. Results: The hand-massaged group showed greater increases in skin temperature than the control group, as shown by ANOVA (p<.05). Results showed that improvements of the scores in the questionnaire (condition and feel-good items) were greater in the hand-massaged group than in the control group (p<.05). Cortisol level increased in the control group, but was not statistically significantly different from that in the hand-massaged group, as shown by ANOVA. Chromogranin A level was also not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: These results confirmed the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine including touching and massage found in previous studies. Hand massage prompted relaxation in geriatric facility residents in this experiment.
The current study focuses on autonomic nervous system activity during sleep as a physiological aspect of sleep quality, and investigated the associations between the cortisol awakening response (CAR) ...and autonomic activity during sleep and after awakening. Ambulatory electrocardiograms were obtained from 20 participants, who also provided saliva samples (at the time of awakening, and 30, 45, and 60 min after awakening) and rated the subjective quality of their sleep at home. Autonomic activity was assessed with the Lorenz plot indices, cardiac sympathetic index (CSI) and cardiac vagal index. Total salivary cortisol secretion after awakening was calculated as area under the curve with respect to ground (AUC(G)) and increase (AUC(I)). After controlling for confounding factors, including sleep duration and awakening time, cortisol AUC(G) and AUC(I) were both found to be negatively correlated with CSI during the 30 min before and after awakening: before (r = -0.526 and -0.601 respectively) and after (r = -0.540 and -0.493 respectively). Self-reported sleep quality was not associated with the CAR. These results suggest that the CAR is negatively affected by basal sympathetic activity immediately before and after awakening, but not affected by subjective sleep quality. Physiological arousals around the time of awakening might inhibit the CAR.
The present study examined whether or not the elevation of cortisol elicited in response to an acute psychosocial stress relates to a difficulty in disengaging attention from threat stimuli. For this ...purpose, we measured attentional bias for angry faces using a spatial cueing task in which the duration of the cue presentation was relatively long (1,000 ms). The participants engaged in the acute psychosocial stress task, and then the spatial cueing task. We divided the participants into cortisol responders and non-responders based on the elevation of salivary cortisol elicited in response to the acute psychosocial stress task. The results showed that cortisol responders had a difficulty in disengaging attention from angry faces, whereas non-responders rapidly disengaged attention from angry faces. These results suggest that the elevation of cortisol elicited in response to the acute psychosocial stress is associated with a difficulty in disengaging attention from threat stimuli.
Objective: Oral health is very important particularly for elderly to live happily. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between lifestyle and oral health in Chinese elderly. ...Methods: The subjects were 96 men (mean±SD: 70.1±4.9) and 92 women (70.7±5.4). Oral health status was evaluated according to the numbers of remaining, intact, treated, and untreated teeth and score in WHO's CPI code. By carrying out a questionnaire survey, we evaluated lifestyle factors, such as stress (SCLS), smoking habits, drinking habit, sleeping hours, sports, snack habit, and tooth brushing habit. Logistic regression analysis was used in analyzing the data. Results: By multi-logistic regression analysis, men who smoke were more likely to have a lower CPI score than those who do not {odds ratio (OR)=4.69, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=0.79-27.89, p<.10}. Men who brush their teeth less than once a day are less likely to have a lower CPI score than those who brush their teeth more than twice a day (OR=0.33, 95% CI=0.09-1.22, p<.10). On the other hand, women who experience much stress are more likely to have a lower CPI score than women who experience little stress (OR=5.59, 95% CI=1.29-24.15, p<.05). Conclusions: The study indicated that smoking may affect oral health conditions in men, whereas stress may affect oral health conditions in women. The reduction in stress and abstinence from smoking are important in maintaining good oral health in Chinese elderly.
Cortisol secretion after awakening, an index of hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity, appears to be related to psychosocial stressors, or to symptoms caused by psychosocial stressors. The ...relationship between the quality, duration, and magnitude of psychosocial factors and cortisol secretion is however, unclear. Therefore, the effect of episodic stress associated with writing a graduation thesis on cortisol secretion after awakening was investigated. Saliva samples were collected from 10 undergraduate students at awakening, and 30, 45, and 60 min after awakening 1 month, 2 weeks, and a few days before the thesis submission and 1 week after the submission. They also completed the Short form of Profile of Moods Scale (POMS-S) on the night before each sampling. Results indicated that cortisol levels were higher a few days before the thesis submission compared to 1 month before submission. Scores of “Fatigue” and “Tension-Anxiety” in POMS-S were also higher a few days before submission. These results suggest that episodic stress associated with writing a graduation thesis caused an increase in cortisol levels after awakening.
Although commercial saliva collectors are available, their reliability for use in the analysis of salivary hormones remains uncertain. Here, we investigated the impact of saliva collection methods ...(passive drool straws, cotton rolls and polymer rolls) on the outcome of measurements of salivary adrenal hormones (cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone DHEA and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate DHEA-S). We also investigated the effects of the storage of saliva at room temperature on the measurements. Saliva samples were collected from 20 adults (7 men, 13 women) by using straws, cotton rolls and polymer rolls. Some of these samples were stored at room temperature for 4 or 9 days. Samples stored at room temperature for 9 days had significantly higher DHEA levels than those frozen on the day of collection (p < .05). Compared to the samples collected using straws, those collected using cotton rolls showed high concentration of DHEA-S (p < .01). For future studies involving examination of salivary adrenal hormone levels, it is crucial that researchers are aware of these issues regarding the effects of the saliva collection methods and storage.
Objective: In this study, we investigated the relationships of neutrophil functions with lifestyle factors (namely, subjective stress, exercise habits, smoking habits, alcohol-drinking habits, and ...self-perceived status health) and health behavior in the Chinese urban elderly. Methods: We performed a health survey of the elderly aged 65 years or older living in Tianjin. The subjects were 42 males (69.1±4.1 years old) and 41 females (69.1±4.1 years old). Investigations of subjective stress, exercise habits, smoking habits, alcohol-drinking habits, and self-perceived health status were performed. The phagocytosis and superoxide productivity of neutrophils were measured by the nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction method. In addition, leukocyte count and serum total protein (TP) level were examined. Results: The investigations revealed the associations of health behavior (p<0.05) and self-perceived health (p<0.10) with the balance between phagocytosis and subsequent superoxide production. Conclusions: The present study revealed that there were correlations of neutrophil functions with lifestyle factors (subjective stress, exercise habits, smoking habits, alcohol-drinking habits, and self-perceived status health) and health behavior in the Chinese urban elderly.
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