Abstract
To examine whether hand baths promote dietary intake, this study clarifies the impact of pre-meal hand bath that is intended for use in clinical settings on biological functions using the autonomic nervous system activity, heart rate, and blood pressure as indicators. A total of 19 healthy men (mean age, 21.9±3.6 years), who were sequentially assigned to the experimental (n=11) and control (n=8) groups, were enrolled in the study. The hand bath procedure was as follows : both hands were soaked in 40℃ water, washed with soap, soaked again, and then dried with a towel. The control group followed the same steps but using an empty bowl and not using soap. The result showed that pre-meal hand bath did not activate the parasympathetic nervous system, but it may have stabilized the accelerated sympathetic nervous system activities. As such, hand baths could be used to prevent the suppression of enterokinesis and secretory function by stabilizing the accelerated sympathetic nervous system activities.
