抄録
The purpose of this research was to examine whether the fatigue-relieving efficacy of a revitalizing medicinal product would be increased by counseling (advice to subjects regarding its expected efficacy), using both subjective and objective indicators. Twenty participants took the revitalizing medicinal product (drinkable product: 50 mL, once) on separate occasions, once with and once without counseling, with a 1-week interval. They completed a self-reported questionnaire (covering motivation, feeling of drowsiness, and general fatigue) and multi-dimensional fatigue inventory-20 (MFI-20) as subjective indicators, and blood flow in the inferior frontal cortex was evaluated by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as an objective indicator. The self-reported questionnaire showed that the revitalizing drink with counseling significantly improved general fatigue, as compared to the drink alone. MFI-20 showed no significant difference. Regional blood flow in the inferior frontal cortex was significantly increased by administration of the revitalizing drink with counseling, compared to without counseling (P < 0.05). Overall, the results indicated that counseling intervention increased the effectiveness of the revitalizing medicinal product.
