Center for Environment, Health and Field Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
J Physiol Anthropol. 2012 Sep 16;31(1):26. doi: 10.1186/1880-6805-31-26.
Recently, mist saunas have been used in the home as a new bathing style in Japan. However, there are still few reports on the effects of bathing methods on recovery from muscle fatigue. Furthermore, the effect of mist sauna bathing on human physiological function has not yet been revealed. Therefore, we measured the physiological effects of bathing methods including the mist sauna on recovery from muscle fatigue.
The bathing methods studied included four conditions: full immersion bath, shower, mist sauna, and no bathing as a control. Ten men participated in this study. The participants completed four consecutive sessions: a 30-min rest period, a 10-min all out elbow flexion task period, a 10-min bathing period, and a 10-min recovery period. We evaluated the mean power frequency (MNF) of the electromyogram (EMG), rectal temperature (Tre), skin temperature (Tsk), skin blood flow (SBF), concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb), and subjective evaluation.
We found that the MNF under the full immersion bath condition was significantly higher than those under the other conditions. Furthermore, Tre, SBF, and O2Hb under the full immersion bath condition were significantly higher than under the other conditions.
Following the results for the full immersion bath condition, the SBF and O2Hb of the mist sauna condition were significantly higher than those for the shower and no bathing conditions. These results suggest that full immersion bath and mist sauna are effective in facilitating recovery from muscle fatigue.
最近，在家中使用蒸汽浴作为一种新的沐浴方式在日本很流行。然而，关于沐浴方式对肌肉疲劳恢复的影响的报道仍然很少。此外，蒸汽浴对人体生理功能的影响尚未被揭示。因此，我们测量了包括蒸汽浴在内的沐浴方式对肌肉疲劳恢复的生理影响。
研究的沐浴方式包括四种条件：全身浸泡浴、淋浴、蒸汽浴和不沐浴作为对照。10 名男性参与了这项研究。参与者完成了四个连续的阶段：30 分钟的休息期、10 分钟的全力肘部弯曲任务期、10 分钟的沐浴期和 10 分钟的恢复期。我们评估了肌电图（EMG）的平均功率频率（MNF）、直肠温度（Tre）、皮肤温度（Tsk）、皮肤血流量（SBF）、氧合血红蛋白（O2Hb）浓度和主观评价。
我们发现全身浸泡浴条件下的 MNF 明显高于其他条件。此外，全身浸泡浴条件下的 Tre、SBF 和 O2Hb 明显高于其他条件。
根据全身浸泡浴条件的结果，蒸汽浴条件下的 SBF 和 O2Hb 明显高于淋浴和不沐浴条件下的 SBF 和 O2Hb。这些结果表明，全身浸泡浴和蒸汽浴有助于肌肉疲劳的恢复。
