Komono Town is a well-known spa and health resort in Mie Prefecture. Komono Town has been seeking ways to promote the activities of hot spring area and health resources in surrounding areas. As part of these efforts, Komono Town has developed town-walk programs to promote the health of local residents. In this study, focusing on effect of walking on relaxation, we compared levels of stress hormones and emotional scores obtained before and after walking.

  After giving their informed consent, adult participated in two walking programs, each for a distance of approximately 7 km. Salivary cortisol levels were measured before and after intervention. In addition, the Mood Check List-Short form. 2 (MCL-S.2) and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were used to rate emotions before and after intervention.

  In both programs, walking tended to lower levels of salivary cortisol than resting. Low levels of cortisol, an adrenocortical hormone released during a state of predominantly sympathetic nervous activity, are thought to reflect mental relaxation; our result implies that the walking program enhanced relaxation in subjects. In addition, both MCL-S.2 and VAS rating showed that the subjects tended to feel better, more relaxed and less anxious after intervention.

  These findings suggest that the walking programs are beneficial human body thorough, for example, enhanced relaxation.

Purpose: Twenty five years have passed since the first national survey on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japan. The Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine conducted a nationwide survey on the actual status of sexual function targeting men over 20 years old in Japan using validated questionnaires commonly used in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Japanese men aged 20 to 79 years participated in our online epidemiological study on sexual dysfunction. Erectile status was assessed by direct questioning and specific questionnaires. Risk factors and frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were assessed. The prevalence of these risk factors was compared between men with and without ED. Prevalence and frequencies were calculated for each 5-year age group. Main outcomes were the prevalence and number of patients with ED and simultaneous evaluation of age-related variations. Results: Direct questioning of the men revealed that 13.0% felt troubled by ED. Although 81.0% of them had at least some ED symptoms based on a Sexual Health Inventory For Men score of ≤21, the prevalence of men with ED by Erection Hardness Score (EHS), the most appropriate questionnaire for Japanese with low sexual activity, was 30.9%, indicating that 14,012,596 men have ED. Most risk factors were related with ED, whereas frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were affected by aging. However, the low frequency of these factors in the young generation was surprising. Conclusions The EHS-based assessment revealed a prevalence of ED of 30.9%, which affected approximately 14 million men, and that the sexual desire, erection stiffness, orgasms, and satisfaction were lower than expected in young Japanese men, especially those aged 20 to 24 years, although those factors tended to worsen with aging. We believe that these findings actually reveal the current sexual status of men in Japan.

Purpose: Twenty five years have passed since the first national survey on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japan. The Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine conducted a nationwide survey on the actual status of sexual function targeting men over 20 years old in Japan using validated questionnaires commonly used in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Japanese men aged 20 to 79 years participated in our online epidemiological study on sexual dysfunction. Erectile status was assessed by direct questioning and specific questionnaires. Risk factors and frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were assessed. The prevalence of these risk factors was compared between men with and without ED. Prevalence and frequencies were calculated for each 5-year age group. Main outcomes were the prevalence and number of patients with ED and simultaneous evaluation of age-related variations. Results: Direct questioning of the men revealed that 13.0% felt troubled by ED. Although 81.0% of them had at least some ED symptoms based on a Sexual Health Inventory For Men score of ≤21, the prevalence of men with ED by Erection Hardness Score (EHS), the most appropriate questionnaire for Japanese with low sexual activity, was 30.9%, indicating that 14,012,596 men have ED. Most risk factors were related with ED, whereas frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were affected by aging. However, the low frequency of these factors in the young generation was surprising. Conclusions The EHS-based assessment revealed a prevalence of ED of 30.9%, which affected approximately 14 million men, and that the sexual desire, erection stiffness, orgasms, and satisfaction were lower than expected in young Japanese men, especially those aged 20 to 24 years, although those factors tended to worsen with aging. We believe that these findings actually reveal the current sexual status of men in Japan.

Purpose: Twenty five years have passed since the first national survey on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japan. The Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine conducted a nationwide survey on the actual status of sexual function targeting men over 20 years old in Japan using validated questionnaires commonly used in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Japanese men aged 20 to 79 years participated in our online epidemiological study on sexual dysfunction. Erectile status was assessed by direct questioning and specific questionnaires. Risk factors and frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were assessed. The prevalence of these risk factors was compared between men with and without ED. Prevalence and frequencies were calculated for each 5-year age group. Main outcomes were the prevalence and number of patients with ED and simultaneous evaluation of age-related variations. Results: Direct questioning of the men revealed that 13.0% felt troubled by ED. Although 81.0% of them had at least some ED symptoms based on a Sexual Health Inventory For Men score of ≤21, the prevalence of men with ED by Erection Hardness Score (EHS), the most appropriate questionnaire for Japanese with low sexual activity, was 30.9%, indicating that 14,012,596 men have ED. Most risk factors were related with ED, whereas frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were affected by aging. However, the low frequency of these factors in the young generation was surprising. Conclusions The EHS-based assessment revealed a prevalence of ED of 30.9%, which affected approximately 14 million men, and that the sexual desire, erection stiffness, orgasms, and satisfaction were lower than expected in young Japanese men, especially those aged 20 to 24 years, although those factors tended to worsen with aging. We believe that these findings actually reveal the current sexual status of men in Japan.

Purpose: Twenty five years have passed since the first national survey on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japan. The Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine conducted a nationwide survey on the actual status of sexual function targeting men over 20 years old in Japan using validated questionnaires commonly used in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Japanese men aged 20 to 79 years participated in our online epidemiological study on sexual dysfunction. Erectile status was assessed by direct questioning and specific questionnaires. Risk factors and frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were assessed. The prevalence of these risk factors was compared between men with and without ED. Prevalence and frequencies were calculated for each 5-year age group. Main outcomes were the prevalence and number of patients with ED and simultaneous evaluation of age-related variations. Results: Direct questioning of the men revealed that 13.0% felt troubled by ED. Although 81.0% of them had at least some ED symptoms based on a Sexual Health Inventory For Men score of ≤21, the prevalence of men with ED by Erection Hardness Score (EHS), the most appropriate questionnaire for Japanese with low sexual activity, was 30.9%, indicating that 14,012,596 men have ED. Most risk factors were related with ED, whereas frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were affected by aging. However, the low frequency of these factors in the young generation was surprising. Conclusions The EHS-based assessment revealed a prevalence of ED of 30.9%, which affected approximately 14 million men, and that the sexual desire, erection stiffness, orgasms, and satisfaction were lower than expected in young Japanese men, especially those aged 20 to 24 years, although those factors tended to worsen with aging. We believe that these findings actually reveal the current sexual status of men in Japan.

Purpose: Twenty five years have passed since the first national survey on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Japan. The Japanese Society for Sexual Medicine conducted a nationwide survey on the actual status of sexual function targeting men over 20 years old in Japan using validated questionnaires commonly used in clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Japanese men aged 20 to 79 years participated in our online epidemiological study on sexual dysfunction. Erectile status was assessed by direct questioning and specific questionnaires. Risk factors and frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were assessed. The prevalence of these risk factors was compared between men with and without ED. Prevalence and frequencies were calculated for each 5-year age group. Main outcomes were the prevalence and number of patients with ED and simultaneous evaluation of age-related variations. Results: Direct questioning of the men revealed that 13.0% felt troubled by ED. Although 81.0% of them had at least some ED symptoms based on a Sexual Health Inventory For Men score of ≤21, the prevalence of men with ED by Erection Hardness Score (EHS), the most appropriate questionnaire for Japanese with low sexual activity, was 30.9%, indicating that 14,012,596 men have ED. Most risk factors were related with ED, whereas frequencies of sexual intercourse, masturbation, nocturnal erections, and feeling sexual desire were affected by aging. However, the low frequency of these factors in the young generation was surprising. Conclusions The EHS-based assessment revealed a prevalence of ED of 30.9%, which affected approximately 14 million men, and that the sexual desire, erection stiffness, orgasms, and satisfaction were lower than expected in young Japanese men, especially those aged 20 to 24 years, although those factors tended to worsen with aging. We believe that these findings actually reveal the current sexual status of men in Japan.

  【Introduction】One of the effects of the hot spring provides worm temperature. This effect raises temperature, and temperature control function operates and causes increase of the bloodstream. This time, these changes examined the thing by the size of the bathtub and the spring quality of the hot spring.   【Subjects and Methods】The subjects were 10 healthy adult men (mean age: 25.2 years). They bathed for 10 min in bathtubs at 42°C. The enforcement used plunge bath (approximately 1,700 L: simple alkaline hot spring) and home bathtub (approximately 300 L: hot water, 0.1% artificially chlorinated spring). Measurement item of the maximum arterial blood flow rate using the Ultrasonic Rheometer Smart Doppler 45, deep body temperature using the deep body temperature monitor core temperature CM-210, I compared each value 10 min during the bathing, and during a 10-min, 20-min, 30-min resting period after bathing, furthermore, I found the conjugation on each condition resting period after bathing.   【Result】The rise in deep body temperature and maximum arterial blood flow rate showed the result that a hot spring of the plunge bath was more meaningful than the value of the home bathtub after 10 min of bathing. The deep body temperature of the hot spring of the plunge bath significantly rose from bathing 3 min after. In deep body temperature with the resting period after bathing, in the hot spring of the plunge bath, a meaningful rise was maintained in hot water 13 min for population chloride spring 16 min of the home bathtub for 15 min.  【Discussion】In thinks that a population spring let you maintain a temperature rise that it disturbs a drop of the water temperature by abundant quantity of water in the plunge bath that hot spring plunge bath had a bigger deep body temperature rise, maximum arterial blood flow rate than home bathtub, and the deep body temperature rise in the home bathtub was continued.

Background: Nasal obstruction is an annoying condition. In this study, we evaluated the effects of hot spring bathing at 41 to 42°C using a rhinomanometer. Methods: Ten healthy adult volunteers (10 men, mean age of 27.8±4.4 years) were asked to bathe in a hot spring for 10 minutes. Using a rhinomanometer (HI-801), nasal resistance was measured before and after bathing by active anterior rhinomanometry. Total nasal resistance was calculated using Ohm’s law formula with right and left nasal resistance values (1/T=1/R+1/L, T: bilateral resistance, R: right resistance, L: left resistance). Resistance at ΔP=100 Pa was used for evaluation. Results: Right and left nasal resistance values were significantly decreased after bathing in subjects with a pre-bathing nasal resistance of greater than 0.75 Pa/cm3/s (inspiratory, P=0.0117; expiratory, P=0.0277; Wilcoxon t-test). No significant change was observed in subjects with a pre-bathing nasal resistance of below 0.75 Pa/cm3/s.Post-bathing total nasal resistance was significantly decreased in subjects with a pre-bathing nasal resistance of greater than 0.5 Pa/cm3/s (P=0.0115; Wilcoxon t-test). Conclusion: This study showed that nasal obstruction can be improved by hot spring bathing, which may contribute to the reasons why cold symptoms are relieved by hot spring bathing.

 Because bathing frequency decrease as Alzheimer disease (AD) worsens, we investigated the relation between cognitive disfunction and bathing frequency.  We asked AD patients and their caregivers about the number of times the patient bathed per week before onset of dementia and the time of first clinical consultation. We investigated the relation between scores from a cognitive function test (Hasegawa’s Dementia Scale-Revised [HDS-R], the Mini Mental State Examination [MMSE] and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised [WAIS-R]), and a depression assessment (Zung Self-rating Depression Scale [SDS]) and number of baths taken per week.  Before onset of dementia, the average number of baths taken by 89 AD patients (26 men, 63 women; range: 63-90 years, average: 79.8 years), was 6.6 times/week. At evaluation time, this number had decreased significantly to 5.3 times/week (p<0.001). A significant positive correlation was found between perfomance Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and total IQ of the WAIS-R and number of baths (p<0.001, p<0.01, respectively). No significant correlation coefficient was found between HDS-R, MMSE, verbal IQ of the WAIS-R and the SDS and number of baths. Reasons of the patients gave for less frequent bathing were that bathing was troublesome or was forgotten and that thermoregulation of bath water had become impossible.  The results suggested that in AD patients, number of baths taken decreased with aggravation of cognitive dysfunction and that there were multiple participating factors including memory disturbance, depressive state, and, particularly, executive dysfunction.

 The purposes of this study were to analyze the chemical composition of some bath water in a simple alkaline hot spring utilizing a hospital and clarifying the factors that influence the concentration of each component of the hot spring water accompanying the bathing.  Water samples were collected in plastic bottles from some bath water and transported to the laboratory. The pH value, electrical conductivity, cations (sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium ions), anions (fluorine, chlorine, nitrite, nitrate and sulfate ions) and metasilicic and metaboric acids were measured. To investigate the factors that increase concentrations of each component in bathing water, aeration examinations with air or nitrogen gas were continued for one month.  The concentrations of sulfate and nitrate ions in the bath water showed an increased tendency compared to those of the hot spring water just after welling up. After aeration with air, the concentration of sulfate ions became higher than that with nitrogen gas. On the contrary, an increase in the concentration of nitrate ions was not found in water aerated with air or nitrogen gas.  In conclusion, the oxidation of sulfur in the hot spring water may have caused the density change of the sulfate ions in the bath water. As for the nitrate ions, the increase in the concentration in the bath water seems to have been caused by perspiration during bathing, but not by oxidation for nitrogen in the hot spring water.