The purpose of this study was to examine how constitutions, blood profiles, knee and back pain, and the psychological state of middle-aged and elderly women were influenced by comprehensive health education that consisted of instructions in appropriate ways of bathing in hot springs and education on lifestyle and exercise.
Of the middle-aged and elderly female residents in village A in Nagano prefecture, 266 underwent health check-ups in August and September 2002. Fifty-six of these women voluntarily participated in this study, and were divided into an intervention and a control group randomly. Finally, the intervention group and control groups consisted of 22 and 26 subjects, respectively, who were considered suitable for study purposes.
The intervention group received comprehensive health education once a week for 3 months (total 11 times) between the latter part of September and the middle of December. For the comprehensive health education, subjects participated in hot spa bathing in a salt spring for 20 minutes in all (two 10-minute periods), and lifestyle education and exercise, including stretching, walking, light sports, dietary instruction, etc., during 60-minute sessions. After the series of comprehensive health education was completed, the following improvements were noted in the intervention group. As to blood profiles, the plasma level of uric acid significantly decreased from 4.4±1.1mg/dl to 4.1±1.1mg/dl (p<0.05) and the arterioloscerotic index decreased from 2.85±0.90 to 2.68±0.83 (p=0.07). The intensity of lumbago expressed on a visual analogue scale significantly decreased from 23.5±28.4% to 14.2±21.5% (p<0.01). The intensity of psychological tension decreased from 45.3±6.3 points to 43.2±6.0 points (p=0.06). The mean number of comprehensive health education sessions attended was 9.9±1.4 (range 7 to 11). The number of improvements implemented with regard to a healthy lifestyle significantly increased (p<0.05). Behavior of the subjects in the intervention group appeared to have changed towards a desirable lifestyle.
The results of this study show that even intermittent and brief health education combining “hot spa bathing and lifestyle education and exercise” is effective to maintain and improve health of middle-aged and elderly women.