Psychophysiological variables which affect the activity of schoolchildren with subjective chronic fatigue were studied. For 32 Japanese elementary school children, 15 boys and 17 girls in Grade 4, the major finding was that the majority of children with subjective chronic fatigue were less active in school. The motor and academic performance of children with greater subjective chronic fatigue were significantly inferior to those of normal children. Good learning was associated with less drowsiness. These findings suggest that subjective chronic fatigue is closely related to daily activities, especially adjustment to school.

BackgroundStudents suffering from psychosomatic symptoms, including drowsiness and feelings of melancholy, often have basic lifestyle problems. The aim of this study was to investigate whether psychosomatic complaints may be related to circadian dysfunction.MethodsWe examined 15 healthy students (4 men and 11 women) between 21 and 22 years old. To assess the presence of psychosomatic symptoms among the subjects, we developed a self-assessment psychosomatic complaints questionnaire consisting of five items pertaining to physical symptoms and five items concerning mental symptoms. The subjects rated their psychosomatic symptoms twice a day (08:00 and 20:00 h). We also assessed growth hormone secretion patterns by fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA). Salivary samples were collected from the subjects at home five times a day (20:00, 24:00, 04:00, 08:00, and 12:00 h) in Salivette tubes.ResultsThe results indicated a relationship between the self-assessment scores and the salivary levels of growth hormone. Subjects with high self-assessment scores showed significant variability in growth hormone secretion over the day, whereas subjects with low self-assessment scores did not.ConclusionPsychosomatic symptoms may be associated with circadian dysfunction, as inferred from blunted rhythmicity in growth hormone secretion.

This experiment was designed to compare sensitive and insensitive children under psychological stress during performance on a motor skill. A new index for sensitivity based on the psychological and physiological data (heart rate) was introduced. The subjects were 50 Japanese children. Although experimental groups received competitive instruction and were given the mirror-drawing task, a control group did not receive such instruction. The sensitive group made fewer errors than the insensitive group and the control group. These results suggest that the combined index is a more useful measure of psychological stress than a single index.

BackgroundIn university health care settings, students with psychosomatic complaints often have chronotypic problems. For this reason, we investigated a potential connection between psychosomatic complaints and circadian rhythm irregularity assessed by salivary levels of melatonin and growth hormone.MethodsFifteen healthy students between 21 and 22 years of age were examined for physiological parameters of chronotypes based on melatonin and growth hormone secretion patterns, using a fluorescence enzyme immunoassay. Salivary samples were collected from subjects at home five times each day (20:00, 24:00, 04:00, 08:00, and 12:00 h). In addition, the subjects rated their psychosomatic symptoms twice (at 08:00 and 20:00 h).ResultsA group with irregular circadian rhythm of melatonin (ICR) showed more psychosomatic complaints than a group with the regular circadian rhythm (RCR), especially for anxiety.ConclusionPsychosomatic symptoms, particularly anxiety, may be associated with irregularity in melatonin and growth hormone rhythms, which can be altered by basic lifestyle habits even in healthy students.

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