Endocrine Abstracts

Since ancient times, physicians have speculated that balneotherapy (therapeutic bathing in medicinal and thermal springs) has a stress-relieving effect, but this has not yet been scientifically established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stress-relieving effects of short-term balneotherapy in a controlled trial by measuring salivary cortisol as a sensitive stress marker. Forty-nine healthy probands were randomised into three intervention groups. Group one performed bathing in a thermal spring (Bad Loipersdorf, Styria Thermal Region, Austria), group two relaxed in deckchairs, and group three performed progressive muscle relaxation. In each group, the intervention lasted for 25 min. Saliva samples were collected immediately after getting up in the morning. Immediately before and after intervention saliva samples were taken again and participants rated their subjective relaxation level on a quantitative scale. Salivary cortisol was determined by ELISA. Additionally, the following psychological tests were employed: Perceived Stress Scale, Recovery-Stress Questionnaire, Symptom list. One-way ANOVAs for repeated measures were performed to detect changes in salivary cortisol and subjective stress ratings between groups. In all three groups, saliva cortisol decreased (F=23.532, P<0.001) and subjective relaxation ratings increased (F=132.178, P<0.001) after intervention. Groups did not significantly differ concerning the reduction of salivary cortisol. Interestingly, the increase of study participants’ subjective level of relaxation was significantly higher in the balneotherapy group (F=5.216, P=0.009). These findings suggest both an objective and subjective stress-relieving effect associated with short-term balneotherapy. With respect to changes in saliva cortisol levels other stress reduction interventions seem to produce similar effects but may not be experienced as similar beneficial as balneotheapy.