Purpose: It is widely known that the risk of lifestyle-related diseases can be reduced by reviewing lifestyles, and a variety of efforts for their prevention, such as health education, are being implemented. This study examined community residents’ lifestyle awareness, examining their views on their health and lifestyles, age, and lifestyle related diseases.
Methods: Study subjects were 180 healthy people (28 men and 152 women) who participated in a health checkup. Participants answered a questionnaire about their awareness of health and lifestyle and their views of disorders. Subsequent measurements of speed of sound (SOS), acceleration plethysmography (APG), and visceral fat area (VFA) were also obtained.
Results: The results of the study suggest that age was correlated with some health-related attitudes and behaviors. When health awareness among members of a group is high, it is necessary to provide them with the required information and continuing intervention to motivate them to continue their health improvement.
Conclusion: It seems that health awareness influences lifestyle, and its improvement slows the progress of lifestyle related diseases and reduces the effects of aging.
Fomentation is positioned as one of the thermotherapies. It is already known that warm temperature stimulus to a part of the body will have an effect throughout the body. However, no consensus has been reached on the internal effects of fomentation on the body and systemic metabolism, and no study has been conducted. The present study examined the effects of fomentation on metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers by applying thermal sheets to thigh skeletal muscles. The study subjects were twelve healthy people. The men were 34.5 ± 3.9 years old (mean ± SD, n=6) and had a BMI of 21.18 ± 2.5. The women were 34.3 ± 3.7 years old (n=6) and had a BMI of 20.2 ± 2. All the subjects were asked to apply thermal loads to the skeletal muscles of their thighs for ten weeks (8 hours per day, 5 days per week) using thermal sheets. The following plasma levels before and after the fomentation were measured and compared in the study subjects; fasting glucose, insulin, adiponectin, soluble form of urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP). Following the application of the thermal sheets, a significant increase was noted in serum adiponectin (18.6 ± 7.64, vs. 15.73 ± 6.16 μg/ml, p=0.033), but no significant change was noted in the fasting serum insulin (7.47 ± 4.04 μIU/ml vs. 5.77 ± 3.12, p=0.117), fasting serum glucose concentrations (95.42 ± 6.19 vs. 93.25 ± 8.39, p=0.13), and in the HOMA-IR (1.75 ± 0.91 vs.1.35± 0.83, p=0.099). On the other hand, following the application of the thermal sheets, a significant decrease was noted in the serum suPAR (0.73 ± 0.49 ng/ml vs.1.62 ± 0.9 ng/ml, p=0.046) in women, although no significant change was noted in the serum hsCRP levels (760.2 ± 1221.6 ng/ml vs. 304.3 ± 287.5, p=0.686). Fomentation applied to the skeletal muscles using thermal sheets caused significant elevation of serum adiponectin levels, although insulin sensitivity did not change. In women, fomentation caused a reduction in plasma suPAR levels, suggesting anti-inflammatory or fibrinolytic roles.
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