[A study on the physical effects of short-time recreation activities at a hot spring resort on unhealthy middle-aged...

A pilot study to improve unhealthy life habits of thirty middle-aged male clerical workers (45 +/- 3.58 yr.) with mild health disorders such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus and fatty liver was carried out. Under prohibition of smoking and alcohol intake, they spent five nights and six days at a hot spring resort, taking part in planned health training programs which included aerobic training, hiking in forests, hot spring baths, cooking practice and lectures about healthy life, controlled by medical, dietary and physical training staffs. To evaluate the short-term effects of these activities, body weight, blood pressure, serum lipid (total cholesterol, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, total free fatty acid and phospholipid), blood sugar, uric acid, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP) and glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) were examined early in the morning of the second (before) and the fifth (after) days, and then their impressions of these recreation activities were monitored by questionnaires on the sixth day. By t-tests of all before-and-after data, it was shown that mean values of body weight, systolic blood pressure, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipid and gamma-GTP were improved, but fasting blood sugar, uric acid and GOT were not improved. In comparison of blood pressure levels, the hypertensive group (n = 9) showed lowering in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, though the normal group (n = 10) had slight elevation. In addition, in the hypercholesterolemic group (n = 11, greater than or equal to 220 mg/dl) mean total cholesterol values decreased, conversely in the hypocholesterolemic group (n = 6, less than 180 mg/dl) they increased. Moreover, the obese group (n = 15, obesity index greater than or equal to 120%) showed greater decreases of body weight, triglyceride and phospholipid than the non-obese group. From questionnaires, it was confirmed that through these recreation activities most participants found mental and spiritual satisfaction, in spite of heavy physical loads. The short-term recreation activities under a stressless environment seemed to maintain the function of homeostasis in the body, but further investigation is needed to examine the relation between the contents of diets and physical activities, and to follow the long-term effects on the participants.