Evaluation of a daily facial massage on perceived sleep quality and well-being: A pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep disorders are widespread and constitute a major public health risk. The present study thus aims to investigate the effect of a facial cosmetic self-massage daily routine on women's sleep and well-being. METHODS: The present pilot study was conducted on 62 middle-aged women declaring daily tiredness and sleep troubles. We examined the effect of a regular facial cosmetic self-massage routine on sleep patterns, daytime sleepiness, and well-being over the course of 2 months. RESULTS: After 1 and 2 months, our results show improved sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI - -20.2% after 2 months), reduced daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS, -31.2% after 2 months), and increased well-being measures. The number of participants with abnormal sleep (PSQI >5) decreased over the course of the experiment as well, from 71.9% to 49.2% at the end of the 2 months [odds ratio 95% CI for decrease: 0.38 (0.18-0.81)]. Similarly, the number of participants with excessive daytime sleepiness (>10 on the ESS) decreased over the course of the study from 44.3% to 21% after 1 month [95% CI: 0.33 (0.15-0.73)] and to 16.1% after 2 months [95% CI: 0.24 (0.10-0.56)]. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a facial cosmetic self-massage routine may improve sleep patterns and is likely to be a useful addition to a standard sleep hygiene routine.

OBJECTIF: Les troubles du sommeil sont répandus et constituent un risque majeur pour la santé publique. La présente étude vise donc à examiner l'effet d'une routine quotidienne d'auto­massage cosmétique du visage sur le sommeil et le bien­être des femmes. MÉTHODES: La présente étude pilote a été menée auprès de 62 femmes d'âge moyen déclarant une fatigue quotidienne et des troubles du sommeil. Nous avons examiné l'effet d'une routine régulière d'auto­massage cosmétique du visage sur les habitudes de sommeil, la somnolence diurne et le bien­être sur une période de deux mois. RÉSULTATS: Après un et deux mois, nos résultats montrent une amélioration de la qualité du sommeil (échelle de qualité du sommeil de Pittsburgh [Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI]: −20.2% après deux mois), une diminution de la somnolence diurne (échelle de somnolence d'Epworth [Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ESS]: −31.2% après deux mois) et une augmentation des valeurs dans les mesures du bien­être. Le nombre de participantes présentant un sommeil anormal (PSQI > 5) a également diminué au cours de l'expérience, passant de 71.9% à 49.2% à la fin des deux mois [rapport de cotes avec IC à 95% pour la diminution: 0.38 (0.18­0.81)]. De même, le nombre de participantes présentant une somnolence diurne excessive (>10 sur l'échelle ESS) a diminué au cours de l'étude passant de 44.3% à 21% après un mois [IC à 95%: 0.33 (0.15­0.73)] et à 16.1% après 2 mois [IC à 95%: 0.24 (0.10­0.56)]. CONCLUSIONS: Ces résultats indiquent qu'incorporer une routine d'auto­massage cosmétique du visage peut favoriser de meilleures habitudes de sommeil, et qu'elle pourrait être bénéfique en complément d'une routine d'hygiène du sommeil habituelle.

Crossmodal Interactions Between Olfaction and Touch Affecting Well-Being and Perception of Cosmetic Creams.

In the present series of studies, we investigated crossmodal perception of odor and texture. In four studies, participants tried two textures of face creams, one high viscosity (HV) and one low viscosity (LV), each with one of three levels of added odor (standard level, half of standard, or base [no added odor]), and then reported their levels of well-being. They also reported their perceptions of the face creams, including liking (global liking of the product, liking of its texture) and "objective" evaluations on just about right (JAR) scales (texture and visual appearance evaluations). In Study 1, women in France tried the creams on their hands, as they would when testing them in a store, and in Study 2, a second group of French women tried the creams on their faces, as they would at home. In Studies 3 and 4, these same two procedures were repeated in China. Results showed that both odor and texture had effects on well-being, liking, and JAR ratings, including interaction effects. Though effects varied by country and context (hand or face), the addition of odor to the creams generally increased reports of well-being, global liking and texture liking, in some cases affecting the "objective" evaluations of texture. This is one of the first investigations of crossmodal olfactory and tactile perception's impacts on well-being, and it reinforces previous literature showing the importance of olfaction on well-being.

The role of athletes' pain-related anxiety in pain-related attentional processes.

Numerous researchers have highlighted the social determinants of athletes' attitude toward pain, yet little is known about the role of cognitive processes and emotions that are related to pain in sport endeavors. There is evidence, in a dot probe paradigm, that individuals with chronic pain selectively orient their attention toward pain-related stimuli, but no studies have differentiated between the two attentional processes of hypervigilance that are evident in athletes: facilitated detection of threat and difficulty in disengaging attention from threatening stimuli. In the present study using a dot probe paradigm, we examined whether professional rugby players (N=58) with high pain-related anxiety (HPA) would show an attentional bias for pain-related threat, and whether this hypervigilance would reflect difficulty disengaging from threat or facilitated detection of threat. Rugby players with HPA oriented their attention toward pain-related threat with a concomitant difficulty disengaging from threat. Difficulty disengaging from painful stimuli may increase anxiety, and thus be maladaptive in sport. This is the first study to identify pain-related anxiety as a vulnerability marker in athletes' attentional biases.

Attentional patterns involved in coping strategies in a sport context.

We investigated the relationship between coping strategies and attentional bias after a sport competition. We administered the Ways of Coping Checklist (Paulhan, Nuissier, Quintard, Cousson, & Bourgeois, 1994) to 145 athletes immediately after they had participated in a sport competition. We also assessed attentional bias using a dot probe detection task. Results revealed that emotion-focused coping strategies led athletes to orient their attention away from threat, whereas athletes who adopted problem-focused coping strategies focused their attention toward threat. More precisely, problem-focused coping strategies are related to a facilitated detection of threat, not to disengagement difficulties. The vigilance attentional bias seems to be a compensatory strategy to cope with a stressful situation, such as sport competition.