Effect of athletic cognitive types on the stress coping ability and stress responses

━investigation into the actual stress conditions of private firms' wokers━

Abstract

In this study, we investigated exercise habits of workers of private firms, and evaluated effects of individual values concerning exercise on stress responses and stress coping ability. Of the 439 regular workers of private firms in Ibaragi Prefecture who answered a questionnaire, the data of 199 who fulfilled the 4 conditions, i.e., age 30-49 years, male, married, and having a child (children), were analyzed. No difference was observed in working hours between those who exercised regularly and those who did not. Physical stress responses were significantly lower in those who exercised 2 or more times per week. The stress coping ability was high, and mental and physical stress responses were low, in those who thought exercise as a health-promoting measure. There was a lot of methods that should have paid attention to objective numerical items such as kind, strength, frequency and time of exercise in the conventional exercise guidance. But these results suggest that cognitive behavioral therapeutic approaches that set health as an aim of exercise are also effective in guidance of workers for promoting awareness of desirable exercise habits at workplaces.