ジャグリング運動が唾液中コルチゾールおよび認知機能に及ぼす影響

Abstract We investigated the changes in cognitive function (cognitive flexibility) and salivary cortisol levels before and after performing transient coordination exercise tasks (juggling tasks) in 16 healthy college students. The participants performed under Juggling 1 or Juggling 2, group. This was done repeatedly for 1 minute followed by a 30 second break. This was considered one set, and six sets were performed. All of the participants underwent saliva collection and completed the mood scale immediately before juggling. Next, participants in the Jug 1 and Jug 2 Groups performed their respective juggling task. Immediately after completing the task, they underwent saliva collection and completed the mood scale again. Participants completed evaluations of cognitive tasks (cognitive flexibility) before and after juggling tasks. Although the reaction times decreased in both Jug 1 and Jug 2, the results revealed no significant differences. However, the decrease in reaction time suggests that the motor content of Jug 1 and Jug 2 temporarily enhanced the processing capacity of cognitive flexibility. Concerning psychological effects in the current study, positive engagement increased significantly after the acute juggling task. Based on these psychological changes, we concluded that rather than increasing mental stress, the acute juggling task temporarily caused a mood of proactive engagement with the task, thereby increasing cortisol levels. A significant positive correlation was noted between the ELISA and Cube Reader measurements. Altogether, our results confirmed the validity of the Cube Reader method to measure cortisol changes in relation to an acute juggling task (coordination exercise task).