Healthy Students
Conditions
Keywords
stress, students, pharmacy practice, theanine, pharmacy training
Brief summary
Long-term practices in a hospital setting and community pharmacy might induce chronic stress in students. Alterations of salivary amylase activity will be measured in students during pharmacy practices as a marker of stress. Theanine is reported to have anti-stress effect on experimental animals under chronic stress and on humans under short-term stress. The purpose of this study is to measure stress symptoms in students during long-term pharmacy practices and to evaluate the efficacy of theanine in suppressing chronic stress, by measuring the salivary amylase activity.
Detailed description
The investigators have found that theanine, an amino acid in green tea, has anti-stress and anti-aging effects using experimental animals. Mice, under chronic psychosocial stress, showed shortened longevity and brain dysfunction. However, when the mice ingested theanine, they showed normal longevity and brain function even though the mice were under psychosocial stress. These data showed that theanine has a significant anti-stress effect on mice. In addition, theanine has been reported to have an anti-stress effect on humans against short-term stress by measuring salivary amylase activity. However, the efficacy of theanine against chronic stress has not been examined. Long-term pharmacy practices might induce chronic stress in students. Based on this background, the investigators designed a randomized study to evaluate the clinical efficacy of theanine ingestion in suppressing chronic stress in students during long-term pharmacy practices.
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTTheanine
Taking 4 tablets of theanine two times daily for 16 days
Sponsors
University of Shizuoka
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
22 Months to 30 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Students of pharmaceutical sciences in the fifth grade, nonsmoker * Obtained written informed consent from the student before participation * Possible to take tablets for 16 days * Possible to check salivary amylase activity two times daily for 10 days
Exclusion criteria
* Taking tranquilizer(s) * Smoker * Diagnosed as inadequate to participate in the study by a doctor
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Alterations in salivary amylase activity in students with pharmacy practices | 10 days |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Numbers of students deteriorated physical condition | 10 days |
| Incidence of days of coming late or leaving early | 10 days |
| Alterations in sleeping hours from baseline | 10 days |
| Alterations in the response to a stress questionnaire from baseline | 10 days |
Countries
Japan
Outcome results
None listed