Abstract
Twelve female college students were divided into two groups, and placed on an identical diet for 10 days while they stayed together at a testing facility. The two groups were subjected to three kinds of stressors; “sitting in a dark room”, “being exposed to coldness”, and “being forced to conduct calculation continuously” for three successive days (first 3 days for one group and last 3 days for the other). The subjects were given height and body weight measurement, and examined of blood pressure, body temperature, subjective symptoms and urinary catecholamines. The following results were obtained.
1) Systolic pressure and body temperature in the morning tended to rise following stressor application the day before.
2) Subjective symptoms uncovered by the fatigue examination on 30 items included an increase tendency on the days when stressors were inflicted, particularly at night.
3) Examination of 17 items showing significant correlation with stresses revealed that the group which underwent the test later showed more significant differences than the first group. This result showed the effects of stresses more clearly than the examination of 30 items.
4) Examination of daily changes of subjective symptoms attributable to types of stressors revealed that significant increases were evident for forced continuous calculation compared to the control days. While “exposure to cold” showed an increase tendency, “sitting in a dark room” caused a decrease in subjective symptoms.
5) Urinary catecholamines tended to increase on the days when the stressors were inflicted, particularly significantly in the second group who underwent the test later.
6) Daily changes in catecholamines as classified by the types of stressors included significantly increased noradrenaline and adrenaline by “forced continuous calculation” and in adrenaline by “exposure to cold”. No changes were induced by “sitting in a dark room”.
7) As for subjective stresses felt by the subjects, “sitting in a dark room” was cited as most oppressive, followed by “continuous calculation”. Intensity of the stresses as reflected in the subjective symptoms and urinary catecholamine was highest for continuous calculation, followed by exposure to cold and sitting in dark.
8) Hematology examination revealed increase tendency attributable to stresses in three items of red cell count, leucocyte count and hematocrit value.
9) As for the body weight, all the subjects except one showed a decrease tendency despite the diet in excess of the required energy.
The above result suggests that blood pressure, body temperature, subjective symptoms and urinary catecholamines can be useful indices showing the intensity of stresses.
