A physiological index of the mental stresses cased by the deskwork with VDT and the relaxation by music

Recently, some studies suggest the possibility that human endocrine and immune secretion fluctuate sensitively according to participants´ subjective mental stress and relaxation. In this study, we focused on one of the major immune substance, immunoglobulin A, and investigated the modulation of IgA induced by stressful task of VDT deskwork and following relaxing music. In our experiment, participants were asked to conduct a simple calculation task with VDT and, after that, they were exposed to relaxing music, noise, or silence. As a result, we observed an increase of IgA right after the VDT deskwork and decrease of IgA after auditory stimuli. Notably, the amount of decrease in the case of relaxing music was significantly greater than other cases. We suggest the possibility that IgA can be a useful mental stress and relaxation index, and it can apply for improving an office work environment with VDT and stress management.