Influence of interaction among the elderly through amusement on their physiological function: One-month introduction at a day care service center for the elderly

Abstract

The 65-year-old or older population exceeded 30 million with rapid aging in Japan. It is predicted to peak with about 39 million in 2042 and the 75-year-old or older population will continuously increase thereafter. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare promotes construction of the Integrated Community Care System targeting 2025 [1], and how to prevent a need-fornursing care state in the elderly is an urgent issue. Regarding the prevention of nursing care, improvement of sociality of the elderly, such as an increase in conversation with emotional changes by interaction through conversation employing the life review/reminiscence therapy, and subsequent improvement of nighttime sleeping hours have been reported [2−4]. In addition, prevention of nursing through amusement devices has recently been attracting attention, and improvement of the motor function by using amusement devices has been reported [5] Abstract: Objective: Amusement was introduced for one month and interaction among the elderly and its influence on their physiological function and sleep were investigated. Methods: The subjects were 9 elderly females (age: 89.0 ± 4.7 years old) who periodically visited a day care service center for the elderly. The survey was performed between October 2015 and December 2015. For the amusement, Blackjack was introduced. The survey period was comprised of 3 amusement introduction periods: pre-amusement, and one week and one month after amusement introduction. In each period, the heart rate (HR), sympathetic nerve activity (CSI), and parasympathetic nerve activity (CVI) were measured during amusement, and the difference in the salivary amylase level between before and after amusement was determined. The sleep efficiency and sleeping hours were measured at night of the days with amusement. Repeated measures one-way ANOVA was performed regarding the survey period as a factor and HR, CSI, CVI, sleep efficiency, sleeping hours, and difference in the amylase level as dependent variables. Results: Significant amusement-induced changes were noted in the CVI and salivary amylase level. These were significantly lower at one month after amusement introduction than those in pre-amusement. Conclusion: Amusement-induced laughing and regret or interaction through the amusement influenced their autonomic nerve system and they may have felt comfortable.

Influence of a Program Combining Amusement and Exercise on Subjective Well-Being: Six-Month Intervention Study with a Complex-Type Program for Community-Dwelling Elderly Subjects

“…Shimizu et al showed that smiling induced psychological changes, such as reductions in negative emotions and improvements in mood, and psychological changes contributed to reducing salivary amylase activity [39]. We previously suggested that an active response based on amylase activity was promoted by interactions through amusement in elderly day care services and subjects felt comfortable with communicating with others through amusement [19]. In the complex-type program employed in the present study, subjects participated in individual exercise programs and blackjack as an amusement program.…”

“…In the complex-type program employed in the present study, subjects participated in individual exercise programs and blackjack as an amusement program. They may have gradually got close to each other by interactions through blackjack and formed new relationships with others, which may have been pleasant [19]. Therefore, salivary amylase levels slightly decreased, indicating that the amusement/exercise complex program was enjoyable.…”

“…However, participants subjectively evaluated whether "it was a pleasant stimulation" in many of these studies, whereas an objective evaluation using physiological function has not yet been performed. We previously reported that active responses were promoted by interactions through amusement at a day care service center using salivary amylase levels as a physiological index [19]. Based on these findings, we considered it possible to prepare a health promotion program for the elderly that is effective for psychological aspects by combining interactions and exercise through amusement.…”