Medical Hydrology and Balneology: Environmental Aspects

Bathing in hot water, utilizing onsen
(hot springs) and drinking green tea may contribute
to good health status of Japanese
Goto Y (1-2) , Hayasaka S (1-2) , Akahori M (3) , Kawada A (3)
(1) ONSEN medical science research center, Japan
(2) Health - Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan
(3) Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka, Japan
ygoto@joh-ri.or.jp
Introduction and Objectives
Life expectancy of Japanese is longer compared with other countries. It is presumed
that some life-style factors may be in part related to Japanese good health
status. Among lots of life-style factors, we focused on bathing in hot water (over 40
centigrade) in daily, utilizing ONSEN (hot spring), and drinking green tea as we
think these are mostly particular in Japan. It has been showed that bathing in hot
water augments blood flow. It has also reported that daily consumption of green tea
may inhibit LDL oxidation followed by preventing the incidence of atherosclerotic
diseases. In this study, we used self-rated health (SRH) as an indicator of health
condition since SRH has been known as a powerful predictor of future morbidity
and mortality.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of bathing in hot water,
utilizing ONSEN, and drinking green tea to Japanese health status using the
estimation of SRH.
Materials and Methods
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on 5,000 residents among
20 years old and over in Shizuoka prefecture on 2011.
SRH was evaluated using five-point scale from “excellent\" to “very poor\".
The frequency of bathing in a bathtub was categorized into two groups: \"less
than 7 days/7 days in a week\" (less bathing/bathing group). The frequency of
utilizing ONSEN was categorized into two groups: “less/more than once in a
month”(less ONSEN/ONSEN group). Amount of green tea consumption was classified
into two groups; ”less/more than 1 litter per day “ (less green tea/green tea
group).
Using SRH as a dependent variable, unconditional logistic models were analyzed
and odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated.
Balnea
2012, núm. 6, 305-306
305
ISBN: 978-84-669-1887-0
978-84-669-3482-4