| Summary: | 碩士 === 嘉南藥理科技大學 === 溫泉產業研究所 === 97 === Taiwan is famous for the high density distribution of hot springs in the world. Media and general industry have reported the extensive health benefits by balneotherapy, and people believe that balneotherapy has the effects of pressure relief and health promotion. However, to date there are only few scientific researches examing the therapeutic or prevention effects of balneotherapy. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of balneotherapy on human physical and mental health. Subjects were general healthy, between the age of 18 and 30 years, and randomized into experimental (N=20) and control (N=20) groups. Subjects in the experimental group received 8-week blaneotherapy for 20 minutes per time, and twice a week. The control group did not have any intervention. Physical health was estimated by measuring the health-related fitness measures. SF-36 healthy quality of life survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate the quality of life. After two months, all the measures of health-related fitness and quality of life for the experimental group showed significant improvement. In contrast, for the control group there were no differences in physical fitness measures except decreased flexibility. Moreover, the total score of quality of life in the control group was significantly decreased. The current study demonstrat that balneotherapy has significant positive effects on physical and mental health.
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