Japan has an urgent need to address the super-aging society with a low birth rate.

The Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture are noted for the longevity of the people, high birth rate and World Natural Heritage sites.

We analyzed the factors of longevity and high birth rate, and aimed to construct a model for addressing the super-aging society and low birth rate under a strategy for regional revitalization.

We received many suggestions for the model from people in the Islands.

Introduction : The purpose of this study was to verify whether trapezius muscle hardness and shoulder pain or stiffness (katakori in Japanese) can be improved with mild noxious stimulation of the gingiva of maxilla molars using an instrument with fine protrusions made of silicone.

Methods : This was a randomized crossover study in which the order of rest and intervention was changed. The subjects were 26 healthy adults who were aware of having katakori. Frictional stimulation at 1 Hz for 1 min using a device with 100 0.08-mm tips densely packed in a 5-mm-diameter circular pedestal, which was molded from silicone, was used for the intervention to the gingiva of maxilla molars with a lower threshold. Muscle hardness was measured using shear wave elastography. Katakori was recorded using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).

Results : After the intervention the trapezium muscle hardness was reduced significantly. As a result of comparing the amount of change of rest with that of intervention, muscle hardness showed a more significant decrease in the intervention than rest. VAS of katakori was significantly reduced in both rest and intervention. However, there was no significant correlation between the amount of change of katakori and muscle hardness.

Conclusion : Muscle hardness in the trapezius muscle was reduced with mild noxious stimulation to the gingiva of maxilla molars with lower threshold. It was not clarified whether this decrease was associated with the improvement of katakori.

This study examined and compared medical professionals’ perceptions towards spirituality and spiritual care between those from the East and West, and amongst medical doctors and other medical professionals. The International Committee of the Japan Society of Integrative Medicine conducted an electronic survey, and data of medical professionals from 14 countries were collected and grouped into either the East or West prior to analysis. Perception of the importance of spirituality/religion in the process of treatment was compared followed by a text analysis to examine opinions on 1) spiritual care and 2) challenges in incorporating traditional medicine and religious spirituality into conventional medicine.

Based on data from 332 participants, of whom more than half (54.5%) were female, and close to half were medical doctors (47.3%), those from the West were significantly more likely to report that spirituality/religion is important in the process of medical treatment. Participants regarded spiritual care as important but also perceived many barriers towards implementation.

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to examine subjective rating scales used in yoga studies and the scales in terms of four aspects of health―physical, mental, social, and spiritual―by reviewing the literature in order to consider subjective evaluations in yoga that aims to promote the four aspects of health.

Methods : ICHUSHI Web, J-STAGE, and CiNii were searched and subjective rating scales were extracted from Japanese studies on yoga and classified by each type of scale. Moreover, the scales were classified according to four aspects of health : physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

Results : Forty-seven types of subjective rating scales were extracted from 27 articles. The scales were classified as follows : 13 types for physical health, 38 types for mental health, 12 types for social health, and one type for spiritual health.

Conclusion : Most of the subjective rating scales in yoga studies in the Japanese literature were verified to be reliable and valid. The spiritual aspect needs to be assessed more by subjective rating scales ; a yoga scale to assess spirituality could be developed.

Background : Antonovsky proposed the concept of “salutogenesis” and argued that sense of coherence (SOC) is an important health factor. Recently, studies have reported the positive effects of lifestyles such as diet and exercise towards strengthening SOC in a stressful social environment. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that people with high SOC do not think of food as merely nourishing, but understand the connection between diet and psychosomatic health, and thus willingly choose ingredients without pesticides and chemical fertilizers, appreciate the food and the people involved in the process of making the food, and enjoy the food.

Objective : To investigate the relationship between SOC and dietary awareness.

Method : Participants who underwent a health check-up at a certified integrated medical facility in Tokyo were recruited. The measurements consisted of an SOC questionnaire (5-point scale), Japanese version of perceived stress questionnaire (JPSS), lifestyle habit questionnaire (diet, exercise, rest score), and questionnaire on the practice of Okada Health Wellness Program (food & eating program, art culture program, frequency of purifying therapy). The food & eating program questionnaire included questions on dietary awareness.

Analysis : (1) Using Mann-Whitney’s U test, SOC and JPSS were analyzed for each item on the challenge sheet. (2) The Spearman’s correlation between SOC, JPSS, and total scores for each of the questionnaires were analyzed. (3) Multiple regression analysis was performed with the outcome variables as SOC and JPSS, and the independent variables as the score and age of each questionnaire.

Results : There were 44 male participants with an average age of 52.9 years (SD11.5) and 57 female participants with an average age of 50.7 years (SD14.3). In Spearman’s correlation coefficient, SOC showed a weak positive correlation with rest habits, dietary awareness, exercise habits, etc., and a strong negative correlation with JPSS. Multiple regression analysis showed that rest habits and dietary awareness had positive effects on SOC and negative effects on JPSS.

Conclusion : The results suggest that dietary awareness such as value of willingly choosing fresh, seasonal, local, and naturally farmed foods, sense of appreciation, and enjoyment of food are highly related to SOC.