JP2007275287A - Stress measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide portable stress measuring apparatus capable of noninvasively measuring a highly reliable stress degree. <P>SOLUTION: This stress measuring apparatus is so formed that an α-amylase measuring section 21 measuring the activity of α-amylase in saliva noninvasively obtained from a subject, a reference data storage section 23 stores reference data including the activity of the α-amylase measured when the subject is insensible of the stress, a psychological data storage section 43 stores psychological data produced based on replies of the subject to questions of a psychological test, an examination data storage section 53 stores examination data including the activity of the α-amylase measured in examining the subject, a stress determination section 20 determines the stress degree of the subject based on the examination data, the reference data and the psychological data of the examination data storage section 53, the reference data storage section 23 and the psychological data storage section 43, and a display section 25 displays a figure according to the determines stress degree. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a stress measuring device, and more particularly to a stress measuring device capable of measuring a stress level non-invasively.

Conventionally, the stress level is measured by measuring the concentration or activity level of a substance that is obtained non-invasively from the living body of the subject and whose concentration or activity level correlates with the stress level of the test subject. A method that can do this has been proposed. For example, according to the stress determination method described in Patent Document 1, the amount of α-amylase activity in saliva collected at the time of a subject's unconsciousness of stress is measured, and the amount of activity is used as a reference value. The amount of α-amylase activity is measured and compared with a reference value. If the measured amount of activity is greater than the reference value, it is determined that stress is being applied.
JP 2002-168860 A

  However, according to the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, it is possible to measure the stress level non-invasively, but it is desirable to be able to measure the stress level with higher reliability. This is because, in Patent Document 1, since the change from the amount of α-amylase activity at the time of unconsciousness of stress is used as an index, individual differences in the amount of α-amylase activity can be taken into account. This is because the factor has an effect, and the stress level of the subject cannot be completely grasped only by the amount of α-amylase activity.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a stress measurement device that can measure a stress level that is non-invasive and more reliable.

  In order to solve the above problems, the stress measuring device of the present invention is a substance that is obtained non-invasively from the subject's living body, and the concentration or the amount of the substance correlates with the degree of stress of the subject. A measurement unit for measuring the amount of activity, a first storage unit for storing the reference data of the subject including the concentration or activity amount of the substance measured by the measurement unit at the time of the subject's unconsciousness of stress, and A second storage unit that stores the psychological data of the subject generated based on the answer, and a third storage that stores the test data of the subject including the concentration or activity amount of the substance measured by the measurement unit during the test of the subject Based on test data stored in the third storage unit, reference data stored in the first storage unit, and psychological data stored in the second storage unit Comprising a determining stress determination unit stress level, and a display unit for displaying a display pattern corresponding to the determined stress level.

  Preferably, the third storage unit stores the history of the inspection data, and the stress determination unit uses the inspection data history stored in the third storage unit as the inspection data used for the determination, so that The degree of mental stress.

  According to the stress measurement device of the present invention, it is possible to measure a stress level that is non-invasive and more reliable.

  Preferably, the degree of stress can be easily recognized visually.

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(Constitution)
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a stress measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of the stress measuring apparatus of FIG.

  The stress measurement device calculates the stress level of the subject. Here, the stress level means the degree of objective stress of the subject without depending on the subjective symptoms of the subject, and is expressed by a numerical value or an image. Say something.

  With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, this stress measuring apparatus includes an operation input unit 20 including an operation button 10, a display unit 25 including a liquid crystal display 12, a date management unit 66, a reference data storage unit 23, Psychological test storage unit 33, psychological data storage unit 43, test data storage unit 53, α-amylase measurement unit 21 including operation lever 11, sheet holder 15, saliva collection sheet 14 and holder insertion port 13, stress determination It is portable with a portion 24.

  The operation button 10 of the operation input unit 20 receives selection of an item from a subject, selection of a psychological test answer, and the like.

  The display unit 25 displays a figure including a menu, a psychological test question item, a psychological test answer selection branch, a character corresponding to the stress level of the subject, and the like.

  The α-amylase measuring unit 21 collects saliva from the subject and measures the amount of α-amylase activity correlated with the degree of stress of the subject in the saliva. The method for measuring the amount of α-amylase activity is described in detail in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-024236, and will be briefly described here. The saliva of the subject is collected using a nonwoven fabric provided in the saliva collection sheet 14 shown in FIG. The saliva collection sheet 14 is fixed by a sheet holder 15, and the sheet holder 15 is inserted into the holder insertion port 13. By operating the operation lever 11, the saliva and the α-amylase measuring reagent are brought into contact with each other, the saliva is decomposed by the enzymatic reaction of α-amylase, and the α-amylase measuring reagent is colored. The amount of α-amylase activity is measured by optically measuring this color development.

  The stress measuring apparatus of the present invention stores the amount of α-amylase activity measured by the α-amylase measuring unit 21 when the subject has no stress symptom in the reference data storage unit 23 as the subject's reference data. Here, the time of unconsciousness of stress refers to a state in which the subject does not feel stress consciously. The reference data includes date information supplied from the date management unit 66 and is stored in the reference data storage unit 23.

  In addition, the stress measuring device of the present invention reads the psychological test question data from the psychological test storage unit 33 and displays it on the display unit 25, and the subject based on the selection of the test subject's answer input from the operation input unit 20. The psychological data of the subject representing the psychological state is created and stored in the psychological data storage unit 43. Specifically, STAI (State Trait Anxiety Inventory) is used as a psychological test. STAI is a test for measuring both sides of whether anxiety is currently in an anxiety state (State Anxiety) and whether personality is likely to be anxious (Trait Anxiety). STAI has 20 question items for each aspect of situational anxiety and characteristic anxiety, and the psychological state of the subject's situational anxiety or characteristic anxiety is one of five levels of I to V according to the subject's answer. Judge that there is.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, 20 questions in order to evaluate characteristic anxiety out of STAI tests are generated to generate psychological data (any one of I to V) representing the psychological state of characteristic anxiety.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displaying STAI questions. Twenty questions as shown in FIG. 3 are sequentially displayed. There are 4 answers, and the score changes depending on which one is selected. The psychological state of the subject is determined to any level of I to V according to the sum of the scores of answers to the 20 questions.

  The stress determination unit 24 stores the α-amylase activity amount measured by the α-amylase measuring unit 21 in the test data storage unit 53 as the test data of the test subject. The inspection data fetches date information supplied from the date management unit 66 and stores it in the inspection data storage unit 53.

  The stress determination unit 24 is stored in the test data of the subject stored in the test data storage unit 53, the reference data of the subject α-amylase stored in the reference data storage unit 23, and the psychological data storage unit 43. The temporary stress level and the temporal stress level of the subject are calculated based on the psychological data of the subject and the stress determination rule.

  The stress determination unit 24 includes a temporary stress determination unit 61, a temporary stress determination rule storage unit 63 that stores temporary stress determination rules, a temporal stress determination unit 62, and a temporal stress determination rule that stores temporal stress determination rules. A stress determination rule storage unit 64 and a graphic data storage unit 65 are included.

  The temporary stress determination unit 61 determines the temporary stress level of the subject on each day according to the test data of the subject α-amylase, the reference data of the subject α-amylase, the psychological data of the subject, and the temporary stress determination rule. (Normal or caution) is determined. Here, the temporary stress level is a parameter that correlates with the stress level from a biochemical point of view and a parameter that correlates with the stress level from a psychological point of view. The degree to do.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temporary stress determination rule.
When the temporary stress determination rule illustrated in FIG. 4 is used, the temporary stress determination unit 61 calculates a change value of the inspection data value from the reference data value. The temporary stress determination unit 61 sets the change value to 0 when the value of the inspection data is smaller than the value of the reference data. Then, when the psychological data is I, the temporary stress determination unit 61 determines that it is caution when the change value is 20 or more, and determines that it is normal when the change value is less than 20. The temporary stress determination unit 61 determines that attention is given when the change value is 40 or more when the psychological data is II, and determines normal when the change value is less than 40. The temporary stress determination unit 61 determines that attention is given when the change value is 60 or more when the psychological data is III, and determines normal when the change is less than 60. The temporary stress determination unit 61 determines that attention is given when the change value is 80 or more when the psychological data is IV, and determines normal when the change is less than 80. When the psychological data is V, the temporary stress determination unit 61 determines that the change is 100 or more, and determines that the change is normal when the change value is less than 100.

  The temporal stress determination unit 62 calculates the temporal stress level of the subject according to the temporal stress determination rule and the temporary stress determination result.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temporal stress determination rule.
When the time-dependent stress determination rule shown in FIG. 5 is used, the time-dependent stress determination unit 62 determines that, for example, two days ago is normal, one day ago is normal, and the day is normal. The stress level with time is set to “10”. Also, the time-dependent stress determination unit 62 sets the time-dependent stress level to “5” when it is determined that two days ago is attention, one day ago is normal, and the current day is normal.

  Thus, by calculating the stress level with time, it is possible to measure the global stress level that is not influenced by daily local fluctuations.

  In FIG. 5, “−” indicates a case where the measurement is not performed, but according to this determination rule, as shown in FIG. 5, the stress level with time is calculated even when the measurement is not performed. In other words, even when the subject forgets or skips the measurement, it is possible to calculate the stress level of some value, thereby making the device easier to use.

  Furthermore, the temporal stress determination unit 62 reads out a graphic corresponding to the calculated temporal stress level of the subject from the graphic data storage unit 65 and displays it. The figures include not only basic figures such as triangles, squares, and circles, but also characters, logos, and paintings. Further, the figure may be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Since the graphic corresponding to the stress level is displayed in this way, the subject can easily recognize his / her own stress level visually.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the degree of stress over time and the character. Character C1 is displayed when the stress level over time is “10”, character C2 is displayed when the stress level over time is “5” or “2.5”, and the stress level over time is “0” Character C3 is displayed, character C4 is displayed when the temporal stress level is “−5” or “−2.5”, and character C5 is displayed when the temporal stress level is “−10”. .

  The psychological test storage unit 33 stores psychological test question data. The reference data storage unit 23 stores reference data for the α-amylase of the subject. The psychological data storage unit 43 stores the psychological data of the subject. The test data storage unit 53 stores test data of α-amylase of the subject for the past three days. Each of the psychological test storage unit 33, the reference data storage unit 23, the psychological data storage unit 43, and the test data storage unit 53 is configured by a separate memory or a single memory, a hard disk, and the like.

(Operation)
Next, the operation of the stress measurement device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the stress measuring operation by the stress measuring apparatus of FIG.

  When the subject selects the reference value measurement menu from the operation input unit 20 when stress is unconscious, the α-amylase measuring unit 21 measures the amount of α-amylase activity in the saliva of the subject. (Step S102).

  Next, the stress measurement device stores data representing the measured α-amylase activity in the reference data storage unit 23 as the reference data of the subject (step S103).

  When the test subject selects the psychological test menu from the operation input unit 20 (YES in step S104), the stress measurement device reads the psychological test question items from the psychological test storage unit 33 and displays them on the display unit 25. A test subject's answer is received through the operation input part 20 (step S105).

  Next, the stress measurement device generates psychological data of the subject based on the test subject's answer and stores it in the psychological data storage unit 43 (step S106).

  When the test subject selects the test menu from the operation input unit 20 during the test (YES in step S107), the α-amylase measurement unit 21 measures the amount of α-amylase activity in the saliva of the test subject (step S108). .

  Next, the stress measuring device stores data representing the measured amount of α-amylase activity in the test data storage unit 53 as test data of the subject (step S109).

  Next, the stress determination unit 24 stores the inspection data history in the inspection data storage unit 53, the reference data is stored in the reference data storage unit 23, and the psychological data is stored in the psychological data storage unit 43. (YES in step S110), the test data history of the subject stored in the test data storage unit 53, that is, the test data for three days (the current day, one day before, two days before), and the reference data storage unit 23 The time-dependent stress level of the subject is calculated based on the reference data of the subject, the psychological data of the subject stored in the psychological data storage unit 43, and the stress determination rule (step S111).

  Next, the stress determination unit 24 reads out a graphic corresponding to the temporal stress level of the subject from the graphic data storage unit 65 and displays it on the display unit 25 (step S112).

  As described above, according to the stress measurement device of the embodiment of the present invention, stress is measured according to the subject's α-amylase activity and the answer to the subject's psychological test, so it is non-invasive and more reliable. A high degree of stress can be measured.

(Modification)
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes, for example, the following modifications.

(1) About the biological substance to be examined In the embodiment of the present invention, saliva is obtained as the concentration or active quantity of a substance that is obtained non-invasively from the living body of the subject and whose concentration or activity is correlated with the stress level of the subject. Although the active amount of α-amylase in the medium was used, the present invention is not limited to this, and the concentration or active amount of other substances may be used. For example, the concentration of cortisol in saliva may be used.

(2) Psychological test In the embodiment of the present invention, the psychological data of the subject is generated by the test that evaluates the STAI characteristic anxiety. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Psychological data may be generated.

  Moreover, you may use preferable psychological tests other than STAI, for example, POMS (Profile of Mood Sates), SDS (Self-rating Depression Scale). In the case of POMS, six factors of tension, depression, anger, vitality, fatigue, and confusion can be measured, but it is desirable to measure factors of depression and / or fatigue. As psychological tests other than these, for example, YG (Yatabe Gilford Personality Test), CMI (Cornell Medical Index), MAS (Manifest Anxiety scale), etc. may be used.

(3) Determination of Temporary Stress Level and Temporal Stress Level The calculation method of the temporary stress level and the temporal stress level described in the embodiment of the present invention is an example, and other calculation methods may be used. Moreover, although the example which uses the log | history for the past 3 days as an aging stress degree was given, it is not limited to this. Only the latest test data may be used as the test data of the subject.

(4) Output of temporary stress level In the embodiment of the present invention, the temporal stress level of the subject is determined, and a graphic corresponding to the temporal stress level of the test subject is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. is not. It is good also as displaying the figure according to the test subject's temporary stress degree.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a functional block diagram of the stress measuring device concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing the external appearance of the stress measuring device of FIG. It is a figure showing the example of the screen which displayed the question of STAI. It is a figure showing the example of a temporary stress determination rule. It is a figure showing the example of a temporal stress determination rule. It is a figure showing the relationship between a time stress level and a character. It is a flowchart showing the procedure of the measurement operation | movement of the stress by the stress measuring device of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  10 operation buttons, 11 operation levers, 12 liquid crystal display, 13 holder insertion port, 14 saliva collection sheet, 15 sheet holder, 20 operation input unit, 21 α-amylase measurement unit, 23 reference data storage unit, 24 stress determination unit, 25 Display unit 33 Psychological test storage unit 43 Psychological data storage unit 53 Test data storage unit 61 Temporary stress determination unit 62 Temporal stress determination unit 63 Temporary stress determination rule storage unit 64 Temporal stress determination rule Storage unit, 65 graphic data storage unit, 66 date management unit.

Claims (2)

A measurement unit that measures the concentration or activity of a substance that is obtained non-invasively from the living body of the subject and whose concentration or activity is correlated with the stress level of the subject;
A first storage unit for storing reference data of the subject including the concentration or activity amount of the substance measured by the measurement unit at the time of the subject's unconsciousness of stress;
A second storage unit for storing the test subject's psychological data generated based on the test subject's answer to the psychological test question;
A third storage unit for storing the test data of the subject including the concentration or activity amount of the substance measured by the measurement unit during the test of the test subject;
Based on the examination data stored in the third storage unit, the reference data stored in the first storage unit, and the psychological data stored in the second storage unit A stress determination unit for determining the stress level of the subject;
A stress measuring device comprising: a display unit that displays a display pattern corresponding to the determined degree of stress. The third storage unit stores a history of the inspection data,
The said stress determination part determines the time stress level of the said test subject using the log | history of the said test | inspection data memorize | stored in the said 3rd memory | storage part as said test | inspection data used for the said determination. Stress measuring device.

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