In order to enable a quantitative measurement of comfort by Hot bath exposure, we performed the fluctuation analysis of alpha-wave on electroencephalogram (EEG). Subjects were 9 female college students (who are all healthy). A subjective perception of comfort was measured by a visual analog scale (VAS) 1 min after onset of bathing, and then, EEGs were recorded for subsequent 3 min during bathing. Experiments were performed in following three conditions; 1) Control (only bathing behavior), 2) Cool (bathing at 35℃), and 3) Hot (bathing at 41-42℃). EEG which was monopolarly induced from Fz was digitized and filtered with 8.0-13.0Hz (alpha band) by a personal computer, and peak-to-peak intervals of these alpha-waves were calculated. These interval values were plotted on the time series (irregular interval data), and were linearly interpolated to produce a continuous signal. This signal was decomposed to regular interval data whose intervals were 50 msec for spectral analysis, and was sampled at 20 Hz. The frequency analysis was made by a fast Fourier transformation at 512 point. The spectral value was transformed into a logarithmic value and a slope of spectrum was calculated using regression analysis. Median slopes of regression lines of alpha-wave fluctuation in the Control, the Cool, and the Hot in 8 subjects were -0.35, -0.29, and -0.58, respectively. A significant difference was shown between in the Control and the Hot. Where, median VAS values about comfort in the three conditions were 3.7, 7.4, and 8.8, respectively. Significant differences were shown both between in the Control and the Cool, and between in the Control and the Hot. These results suggests that the Hot bath at 41-42℃ whose temperature will make us to feel comfortable will promote increasing in the fluctuation slope of alpha-wave.
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