Skip to main content
Log in

Lifestyle, mental health status and salivary secretion rates

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

The relations between salivary variables, lifestyle and mental health status were investigated for 61 healthy female university students. The salivary secretion rates were significantly higher in the good lifestyle groups compared with the poor lifestyle groups. Among the 8 lifestyle items tested. “eating breakfast” and “mental stress” were significantly related to the salivary secretion rates. The present findings suggest that the acquisition of a good lifestyle is also very important from the viewpoint of the prevention of oral disease.

A highly significant correlation (r=0.97; p<0.01) between the salivary cortisol levels and the cortisol secretion rates when controlled for the salivary secretion rates was also observed. This suggests that there is a high correlation between the intact salivary cortisol levels and the total cortisol quantity per unit time. Therefore, both these values can be used as a good index for the salivary cortisol determination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Yamaguchi M, Takai N. Saliva as a mirror of the body (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kougyou-chousakai, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Johansson G, Ravald N. Comparison of some salivary variables between vegetarians and omnivores. Eur. J. Oral. Sci. 1995; 103: 95–98.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Johansson G, Birkhed D. Effect of a long-term change from a mixed to a lacto-vegetarian diet on human saliva. Arch. Oral. Biol. 1994; 39: 283–288.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Tenovuo JO. Human saliva: clinical chemistry and microbiology. florida: CRC press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH. Salivary cortisol in psychoneuroendocrine research: recent developments and applications. Psychoneuroendocrinology 1994; 19: 313–333.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Morimoto K. “Stress-kiki no yobo-igaku” (in Japanese). Tokyo: NHK books, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kusaka Y, Kondou H, Morimoto K. Healthy lifestyles are associated with higher natural killer cell activity. Prev. Med. 1992; 21: 602–615.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hagihara A, Morimoto K. Personal health practices and attitudes toward nonsmokers' legal rights in Japan. Soc. Sci. Med. 1991; 33: 717–721.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Goldberg DP. Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. Windsor: NFER Publishing, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Zung WWK. A self-rating depression scale. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 1965; 12: 63–70.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Fukuda K, Kobayashi S. The Japanese version of the SDS (in Japanese). Kyoto: Sankyobo, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Shimada M, Takahashi K, Ohkawa T, Segawa M, Higurashi M. Determination of salivary cortisol by ELISA and its application to the assessment of the circadian rhythm in children. Horm. Res. 1995; 44: 213–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nakamura Y, Morimoto T. Basic physiology for dental studennts (in Japanese). Tokyo: Ishiyaku Publishers, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Johansson I, Ericson T. Effects of a 900-kcal liquid or solid diet on saliva flow rate and composition in female subjects. Caries Res. 1989; 23: 184–189.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Jenkins GN, Edgar WM. The effect of daily gum-chewing on salivary flow rates in man. J. Dent. Res., 1989; 68: 786–790.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Dodds MWJ, Hsieh SC, Johnson DA. The effect of increased mastication by daily gum-chewing on salivary gland output and dental plaque acidogenicity. J. Dent. Res. 1991; 70: 1474–1478.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ferguson DB, Botchway CA. Circadian variations in the flow rate and composition of whole saliva stimulated by mastication. Archs. Oral. Biol. 1980; 24: 877–881.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kirschbaum C, Hellhammer DH. Salivary cortisol in psychobiological research: an overview. Neuropsychobiology 1989; 22: 150–169.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Åkerstedt T, Levi L. Circadian rhythms in the secretion of cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Eur. J. Clin. Invest. 1978; 8: 57–58.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Navazesh M, Christensen CM. A comparison of whole mouth resting and stimulated salivary measurement procedures. J. Dent. Res. 1982; 61: 1158–1162.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Ezoe S, Morimoto K. Behavioral lifestyle and mental health status of Japanese factory workers. Prev. Med. 1994; 23: 98–105.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Morimoto K, Takeshita T, Takeuchi T, Maruyama S, Ezoe S, Incue C, Nakajima M. What mental stress reactions mean—from gene alterations to job satisfaction—(in Japanese). Job Stress Res. 1995; 3: 12–24.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Kreuz LE, Rose RM, Jennings JR. Suppression of plasma testosterone levels and psychological stress: A longitudinal study of young men in officer candidate school. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 1972; 26: 479–482.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Payne RL, Rick JT, Smith GH, Cooper RG. Multiple indicators of stress in an ‘active’ job—cardiothoracic surgery. J. Occup. Med. 1984; 26: 805–808.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Perna FM, McDowell SL. Role of psychological stress in cortisol recovery from exhaustive exercise among elite athletes. Int. J. Behav. Med. 1995; 2: 13–26.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Perna FM, Antoni MH, Kumar M, Cruess DG, Schneiderman N. Cognitive-behavioral intervention effects on mood and cortisol during exercise training. Ann. Behav. Med. 1998; 20: 92–98.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kanehisa Morimoto.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Toda, M., Morimoto, K., Fukuda, S. et al. Lifestyle, mental health status and salivary secretion rates. Environ Health Prev Med 6, 260–263 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02897979

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02897979

Key words

Navigation