朝の足浴が高齢患者の目覚め感，倦怠感に及ぼす効果―女子学生を対象にした基礎研究と入院中の高齢者を対象にした臨床研究の結果から

Effects of Foot Baths on Wakefulness and Fatigue of Elderly Patients : Results from a Basic Study of Female College Students and a Clinical Study of Hospitalized Elderly Patients

　本研究では，朝に足浴を行なうことで，入院中の高齢者の日中の目覚め感が増加し，倦怠感が減少するかを明らかにすることを目的に【研究1】【研究2】を行なった。【研究1】として，女子学生12名（平均年齢21.3歳）を対象にクロスオーバーデザインを用いて，朝に足浴を行なった日と，足浴を行なわなかった日について日中の目覚め感，眠気を比較検討した。目覚め感の評価は現在感じている程度を100点満点で回答してもらい，日中の眠気の評価はJESS^TM（Japanese version of Epworth Sleepiness Scale）を使用した。分析はWilcoxonの符号つき順位検定を行なった。その結果，足浴を行なった日は，足浴を行なわなかった日と比較して，日中の目覚め感が有意に高く（p＝0.022），日中の眠気が有意に低かった（p＝0.002）。続いて，【研究2】として入院中の高齢者15名（男性8名，女性7名，平均年齢70.1歳）を対象にして，クロスオーバーデザインを用いて，朝の足浴による日中の目覚め感，倦怠感への効果について検討を行なった。目覚め感，眠気，倦怠感の評価は，現在感じている程度を100点満点で回答してもらい，Wilcoxonの符号つき順位検定を行なった。その結果，朝に足浴を行なった日は，足浴を行なわない日と比較して，目覚め感は有意に高く（p＝0.009），倦怠感は有意に低かった（p＝0.008）。したがって，朝に足浴を行なうことで日中の覚醒を促す効果，倦怠感を軽減する効果があることが示唆された。

　This work involves two studies conducted to clarify the effectiveness of morning foot baths on increasing wakefulness and reducing fatigue among elderly hospitalized patients during the day. Study1 compared wakefulness and drowsiness of 12 female students (average age 21.3) throughout the day on days they received morning foot baths as opposed to days in which they did not receive foot baths. Wakefulness was assessed by having the subjects estimate their own current degree of wakefulness on a scale of 1 to 100, and drowsiness was measured using the JESS. It was found that wakefulness was significantly enhanced (p＝0.022) and drowsiness reduced (p＝0.002) on days that the subjects had the foot baths as opposed to days when they did not.

　This was followed by a nearly identical cross-over design Study2 to assess the effects of foot baths on wakefulness and drowsiness during the day of 15 elderly hospitalized patients (average age 70.1). In Study2, the subjects were asked to assess the degree of wakefulness, drowsiness, and fatigue they currently felt on a scale of 1 to 100, and the results were subjected to Wilcoxon signed-rank testing. Again, the subjects reported significantly greater wakefulness (p＝0.009) and reduced fatigue (p＝0.008) on days that their feet were soaked in the morning as opposed to days when they were not. These results suggest that soaking or bathing the feet in the morning does have some salutary effect in stimulating wakefulness and reducing fatigue during the day.