Uvnäs-Moberg, Kerstin
- Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Work-related stress is relatively common in modern society and is a major cause of sick-leave. Thus, effective stress reducing interventions are needed. This study examined the effects of mental training and mechanical massage, on employee's heart rate variability (HRV) and plasma cortisol at their workplaces. Moreover, it was investigated whether baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) can explain differences in effectiveness of the intervention. Ninety-three participants from four workplaces were randomly assigned to one of the five programs: (I) Mechanical massage and mental training combined, II) Mechanical massage, III) Mental training, IV) Pause, or V) Control. HRV and plasma cortisol were measured at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks. SBP was measured at baseline. On the reduction of cortisol levels, a small effect of the mechanical massage program was found, whereas no effect was found for the other programs. None of the programs showed any effect on HRV. Nonetheless, when the level of systolic blood pressure was taken into account, some small beneficial effects on HRV and cortisol of mental training and the mechanical massage were found. This exploratory pilot-study provides useful information for future studies that aim to reduce stress among employees.
Keywords
stress; mental training; heart rate variability; cortisol; systolic blood pressure; mechanical massage
Published in
Frontiers in Public Health
2020, volume: 8, article number: 82
Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Health and Occupational Health
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00082
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/105385