Common risk factors for changes in body weight and psychological well-being in Japanese male middle-aged workers

Abstract

Objectives Overweight and poor psychological wellbeing are becoming serious health issues in the Japanese workplace. Concurrence of those physical and mental conditions has been pointed out, especially in middle-aged workers. Therefore, we tried to determine common risk factors for body weight gain and the deterioration of psychological well-being in male middle-aged office workers using a five-year follow-up study. Methods We administered General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) as an indicator of psychological well-being to 110 male workers with ages ranging from 40-59 years, and analyzed the influence of several psychological factors, namely sense of coherence (SOC), health locus of control (HLC), and lifestyle variables such as exercise frequency, alcohol intake, smoking status, and dietary intake on changes of body mass index and GHQ-12 score. ResultsMcNemar's chi-squared test showed significant concurrence of weight gain and deterioration of psychological well-being after five-year follow-up. Low-SOC score, low frequency of exercise, and high-dietary intake at supper were significantly associated with both weight gain and poorer psychological well-being in workers, results which were supported by multiple regression analysis. Conclusions These results suggest that exercise and calorie restriction seem to prevent weight gain and promote psychological well-being in workers. Low SOC, which implies difficulty in coping with stress, may be an important risk factor not only for deterioration of psychological well-being but also for becoming overweight. These assumptions must be confirmed by conducting future intervention studies on SOC and lifestyle including exercise and eating behavior.

Good Stress Management Capability Is Associated with Lower Body Mass Index and Restful Sleep in the Elderly

“…SOC scores should be regarded as complementary to and not a substitute for information already known to be associated with an increased risk for future illness (Suominena et al 2001). Our results demonstrated that SOC scores within the low GHQ-12 group were significantly higher than those in the high GHQ group, which is consistent with previous studies (Matsuzaki et al 2007;Sagara et al 2009;Urakawa and Yokoyama 2009). Generally, the GHQ-12 has been used in primary health care screenings in general population surveys as well as in general medical practice (Doi and Minowa 2003).…”

Sense of coherence is significantly associated with both metabolic syndrome and lifestyle in Japanese computer software office workers

“…Previous cross-sectional studies in female populations have reported an association between SOC and blood pressure [30], type 2 diabetes [31] and dyslipidemia [9]. The study in Japanese male, middle-aged workers has suggested that a weak SOC may be a risk factor for weight gain [8]. The present study also showed that SOC is associated with overweight, dyslipidemia and elevated blood sugar level.…”

“…To our knowledge, there are no published studies demonstrating an association between SOC and both multiple atherosclerotic risk factors, including MetS, and lifestyle behaviors in the same subjects. However, there are a few studies that have shown an association between SOC and objective physical health [8,9]. We aimed at examination of the hypothesis that a strong SOC, in Japanese computer IJOMEH 2014;27(6) 969 in Japan (Table 1) [10].…”

Stress and coping styles in Japanese nursing students

“…Therefore, a threshold of 3/4 was used in the present study. However, the mean GHQ‐12 score in the present study (5.5) was higher than in other studies performed in Japan . The higher cut‐off point of 7/8 was also explored in the present study for increased specificity.…”