Health, 2017, 9, 1787-1800
http://www.scirp.org/journal/health
ISSN Online: 1949-5005
ISSN Print: 1949-4998

Sleep and Stress of Late Middle Age Males Who
Are Forced to Live in Emergency Temporary
Houses and Post-Earthquake Public Houses fora Long Period Due to the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station Accident
Yuka Iwasa1, Yoshiyuki Muramatsu1, Hagiko Aoki1, Chikako Tomiyama2, Tomoko Saito1,
Mayumi Nishikata1, Mieko Uchiyama1
Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan
Department of Medical Technology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan1
2

How to cite this paper: Iwasa, Y., Muramatsu, Y., Aoki, H., Tomiyama, C., Saito,T., Nishikata, M. and Uchiyama, M. (2017)
Sleep and Stress of Late Middle Age Males
Who Are Forced to Live in Emergency
Temporary Houses and Post-Earthquake
Public Houses for a Long Period Due to the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
Accident. Health, 9, 1787-1800.
https://doi.org/10.4236/health.2017.913130
Received: November 14, 2017
Accepted: December 9, 2017
Published: December 12, 2017
Copyright © 2017 by authors andScientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Open Access

Abstract
It has been revealed that prolonged shelter life caused by Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station accident in conjunction with the Great East Japan
Earthquake influences sleep and mental health of the residents, and therefore
its influence on their physical and emotional health has become a concern.
Therefore, in this study, the authors aimed at clarifying actual situations of
sleep and stress of middle age males living in shelters for a long period in eachof emergency temporary houses and post-earthquake public houses. For 5
males who moved from emergency temporary houses to post-earthquake
public houses, their objective and subjective sleep states were measured with
Actigraph and PSQI, respectively. Furthermore, their objective and subjective
stresses were measured with saliva stress biomarkers and GHQ28, respectively. Their data were analyzed by paired t-test. As result, in comparison between
the life in the emergency temporary houses and post-earthquake public houses, significant variation was not recognized in their objective sleep states andsaliva stress biomarkers though their subjective sleep and subjective stresswere significantly worsened after moving to the post-earthquake public
houses.

Keywords
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident, Emergency
Temporary House, Actigraph, Sleep, Mental Stress

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1. Introduction
A number of people are living as evacuees in emergency temporary houses (hereinafter called temporary house), leased houses, post-earthquake public houses(hereinafter called post-earthquake house) and so on even now, due to the Great
East Japan Earthquake and Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Station accident (hereinafter called nuclear disaster) in conjunction with it [1].
Temporary houses were usually closed within five years in the past disasters. Although it has been over six years since the disaster, 10,213 people in Fukushima(as of March 31, 2017) [2] are forced to live in temporary houses being concerned about uncertain prospects. Such a situation has never happened before.
The number of deaths (as of March 31, 2017) related to the Great East Japan
Earthquake reported by Reconstruction Agency is, among the 3 prefectures in
Tohoku, 463 in Iwate, 926 in Miyagi, and 2147 in Fukushima [3]. The number isoverwhelmingly high in Fukushima, and Fukushima is the only district where
deaths related to the disaster have occurred even 5 or more years after theearthquake disaster. Moreover, “The total number of suicides related to theGreat East Japan Earthquake” reported by the Office for Policy of Suicide Prevention of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare [4] is 56 in 2015, 4 years after
the disaster, and by prefecture, 31 in Fukushima (55.4%), 13 in Miyagi (23.2%)
and 12 in Iwate (21.4%), suggesting that Fukushima accounts for majority. By
gender, it is 37 in males (66.1%) and 19 in women (33.9%), suggesting that males
account for over two-thirds. By age, it is 23 in 30 - 59 years old (41.1%), indicating that the rate of late middle age males is high. It has been clarified from thepast disasters [5] that life as an evacuee has an influence on psychosomatic
health of the victims. In Japan, a number of investigations have been carried out
since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake [6]. Large-scale health survey [7] [8]has been carried out for the Great East Japan Earthquake, and worsening of life
habits such as drinking and smoking by evacuation life, weight gain, increase in
the tendency toward depression and increase in the prevalence of sleep disorders
have been reported. The investigation for 200 temporary housing residents inFukushima has revealed that weight, BMI, abdominal circumference and HbA1C
increased from before the earthquake disaster [9]. Moreover, according to theinvestigation performed by Fukushima Medical College in 2015 [10], the rate ofresidents with poor mental health states was 7.7%, and this tendency was higher
than that of residents of usual communities in Japan (3.0%). In addition, according to the report of the local government of a village whose villagers all evacuate due to the nuclear disaster [11], significant increase in the rate of the residents having obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and lipid abnormalities was seen after the earthquake disaster. Furthermore, significant increase in
BMI, contraction phase, diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, LDL cholesterol, fasting triglyceride, AST, ALT and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase andincrease in their prevalence was recognized in males in particular. Moreover, in
the above report [11], the cause of weight gain was examined and it has been reDOI: 10.4236/health.2017.913130

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vealed that although the variation of eating habit was not seen, the rate of theresidents who had sufficient rest by sleep decreased. Therefore, the possibility
that control of stress and sleep influences weight gain has been pointed out. In
recent years, it has been indicated that insufficient sleep time and insomnia raises the onset risks of obese [12], hypertensive [13] glucose tolerance disorder[14], metabolic syndrome [15] and depression [16] and therefore influence ofevacuation life of late middle age males on their physical and emotional health isa concern. The investigation for sleep of the victims were performed mainly byquestionnaire for descriptive subjective evaluation based on self-report by the
subjects and therefore the results may not correspond with those for objective
sleep [17]. Studies on objective sleep of late middle age male victims have notbeen published so far and therefore it will be helpful in reconstruction aid tograsp the actual situation of the objective sleep and stress of late middle age
males who are in their prime and assume an important role for the reconstruction. This time, aiming at clarifying how the long-term evacuation life caused by
the nuclear station accident influence the sleep and stress of late middle age
males, the authors measured objective sleep state, Objective stress conditions
with Actigraph and noninvasive saliva stress biomarkers, respectively, and subjective sleep and stress by questionnaire.

2. Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study is to focus on sleep and stress of late middle age males
spending evacuation life for a long period due to the nuclear disaster, and clarify
actual situations of their life in temporal houses and post-earthquake houses.

3. Methods
3.1. Study Design
Observational, prospective study.

3.2. Subject of the Study
Late middle age males who suffered from by the accident of Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station and have evacuated to temporal houses due to the Great
East Japan Earthquake.
The inclusion criteria is late middle age males who moved to post-earthquake
public houses after living in emergency temporary housing, and the exclusion
criteria is males who is taking medications that affect sleep (hypnotics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, etc.).

3.3. Data Collection Period
From December, 2015 to February, 2017.

3.4. Approach
For the purpose of grasping sleep and stress of the victims, the investigation was
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performed by using Actigraph (micro motion logger made by A.M.I), Japaneseedition of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (hereinafter called PSQI), General
Health Questionnaire 28 (hereinafter called GHQ28) and Saliva stress biomarker. (α-Amylase, Cortisol, Chromogranin A, s-IgA). The investigation at the time
when they were living in the temporal houses (from December, 2015 to February; 57 - 59 months after the disaster) and in the post-earthquake houses (December, 2016 to February; 69 - 71 months after the disaster).
3.4.1. Grasp of Sleep State
Sleep Minutes (sleep time), Sleep Efficiency (sleep onset efficiency), Sleep Latency (sleep latency) and Wake after Sleep Onset (arousal time) were measured
with Actigraph so as to grasp objective sleep state of the subjects [18]. Study
subjects were requested to wear Actigraph on their wrists of non-dominanthands for 24 hours for five days including Saturday and Sunday. The collected
data were analyzed with the special analysis software AW2, and the algorithm
discriminant proposed by Cole [19] was used to evaluate arousal. The subjects
were requested to fill in PSQI [20] while wearing Actigraph to grasp subjective
sleep states of the subjects. PSQI is a self-administered questionnaire designed tomeasure quality of sleep, sleep time, sleep onset, sleep efficiency, sleep difficulty,
use of sleep medication, troubles occurred in everyday life caused by drowsinessin daytime and so on, consisting of 18 question items with 7 subscales. In PSQI,
higher scores indicate higher degrees of the sleep trouble.
3.4.2. Grasp of Stress
The subjects were requested to fill in GHQ28 [21] while wearing Actigraph tograsp subjective stress of them. GHQ28 consists of 28 question items with 4
subscales of physical symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social disability and depression tendency. For recent mental health states, the answers “Not much” and“Not at all” were given 0 point and “Yes” and “Yes, frequently” were given 1
point and the evaluation was performed according to the total scores or each
subscale.. The subjects with the total scores of over 6 points were judged as having some problems related to their mental health. For the physical symptoms,
anxiety and insomnia of the subscale, the subjects were judged as having thesymptoms when their scores are 2 points or more. For social disability and depression tendency, the subjects were judged as having the symptoms when theirscores are 1 point or more. Moreover, for the purpose of evaluating objective
stress of the subjects, the subjects were asked to sample their saliva, which can be
sampled easily in a non-invasive manner, before bedtime and at the time of
awakening everyday during the period in which the subjects wore Actigraph.

α-Amylase activity [22] in saliva as an index of acute stress reaction, Cortisol
concentration [23] as an index of chronic stress, and Chromogranin A (CgA)
concentration [24] and salivary secretor immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) secretion
rate [25] as an index of mental stress were measured. Oral swab (SOS) and preservation tubes were used for sampling. After collecting saliva, the samples were
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centrifuged, preserved at −80 degrees Celsius or less, and sent to Yanaihara Institute Inc. (Shizuoka) for examination. Salivaryα-Amylase Kinetic Enzyme Assay Kit (Salimetrics), YK241 Cortisol (Saliva) EIA Kit (Yanaihara Institute Inc.),
YK070 Human Chromogranin A EIA kit (Yanaihara Institute Inc.) and YK280
Human s-IgA (Saliva) ELISA kit (YYanaihara Institute Inc.) were used for theexamination.

3.5. Analytical Method
The paired t-test was used for comparison between the data obtained from temporary houses and those from post-earthquake houses. Furthermore, one sample

t-test was used for comparison between the total GHQ28 point of average males
shown in literature and the total GHQ point obtained in this study. p values below 0.05 was regarded as significant. IBM SPSS ver.24 for windows was used forall statistical analyses.

3.6. Ethical Consideration
This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of School of Medicine, Niigata University (authorization number 2324). Moreover, the study was performed in compliance with Ethical guideline for medical research targeting human subjects [26], Ethical guideline for investigative research targeting disastervictims [27] and Guideline for investigation on the Great East Japan Earthquake[28]. As an ethical consideration, the authors explained to the study subjects
orally and in documents about the study goal, methods, right to participate andrefuse by free will, privacy protection, personal information protection and soon. After data analyses, we explained about the results directly to the subjects
each time.

4. Results
4.1. Outline of Subjects (Table 1)Ten subjects were employed for the study. Five of the subjects who moved topost-earthquake houses and over 5 months ago were employed as subjects forthe analyses performed in this study. The age of the 5 subjects was 53.8 ± 8.4
years old (average ± standard deviation), 2 of whom work and 3 of whom took
regular exercise 2 or 3 times a week. Furthermore, four of them lived with theirfamilies and 1 of them had taken antihypertensive drug after earthquake disaster. None of them took sleeping drug, antianxiety drug or antipsychotic drug,
which might have an influence on their sleep. They lived in the temporary houses for the period from August to September, 2011. Average period of their life in
the temporary houses was 53.8 ± 1.1 months and that of the post-earthquake
houses was 5.4 ± 0.6 months.

4.2. Objective Evaluation of Sleep by Actigraph (Table 2)
Results obtained by Actigraph at the time of living in the temporary houses
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Table 1. Subjects’ profile.
evacuation
designatedzones where
he lived before
the earthquake

Length ofLength offamilystay at
Smoking Drinking Exercise
stay atto live Employment
Temporary Post-earthquake
habit
habit
habit
with
house
public house

DamageRestricted
residence zone

52 months

5 months

Have

Employed

No

Have

Have

Nothing

B 40s No damege

Evacuation ordercancellation
preparation zone

54 months

5 months

Have

Employed

Have

No

No

Nothing

C 40s

DamageRestricted
residence zone

54 months

5 monthsHave

No employed

No

No

Have

Nothing

D 60s No damege

Evacuation ordercancellation
preparation zone

54 months

6 months

No

No employed

No

Have

Have

antihypertensivedrug

E 60s No damege

Evacuation ordercancellation
preparation zone

55 months

6 monthsHave

No employed

No

Have

No

NothingHousedamageAgecaused byearthquake
A 50s

Internal
medicine(after theearthquake )Table 2. Objective sleep evaluation by Actigraph at the time of living in emergency temporary house and post-earthquake public
house (n = 5).
Emergency
temporary house

Post-earthquake
public house

p-value

AverageStandard deviation

AverageStandard deviation

Sleep Minutes (min)

338.5

124.8

318.8

119.8

0.267

Sleep Efficiency (%)

87.5

18.5

90.5

9.2

0.613

Sleep Latency (min)

75.7

63.4

82.0

110.9

0.847

Wake after Sleep Onset (min)

42.1

54.1

25.9

19.2

0.486

Paired t test (p < 0.05).

(mean ± SD) revealed that Sleep Minutes, Sleep Efficiency, Sleep Latency andWake after Sleep Onset were 338.5 ± 124.8, 87.5 ± 18.5%, 75.7 ± 63.4 and 42.1 ±54.1, respectively. Results obtained by Actigraph at the time of living in the
post-earthquake houses (mean ± SD) revealed that Sleep Minutes, Sleep Efficiency, Sleep Latency and Wake after Sleep Onset were 318.8 ± 119.8, 90.5 ±
9.2%, 82.0 ± 110.9 and 25.9 ± 19.2, respectively. There were no significant differences between the results from the temporary houses and the post-earthquake
houses.

4.3. Subjective Evaluation of Sleep by PSQI (Table 3)
Results of PSQI obtained from the temporary houses (mean ± SD) revealed thatthe total PSQI points were 4.0 ± 1.4 points. As for the subscale, Quality of Sleep,
Sleep Onset, Sleep Minutes, Sleep Efficiency, Difficulty Sleeping, Use of Sleep Medication and Difficulty Staying Awake in Daytime were 1.2 ± 0.4 pts, 0.8 ± 0.8 pts,
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Table 3. Subjective sleep evaluation by PSQI at the time of living in emergency temporary
house and post-earthquake public house (n = 5).
Emergency
temporary house

Post-earthquake
public house

p-value

AverageStandard
deviation

AverageStandard
deviation

4.0

1.4

5.0

2.1

0.089

Sleep Quality

1.2

0.4

1.2

0.4

-

Sleep Onset Time

0.8

0.8

1.0

1.4

0.704

Sleep Minutes

1.0

0.0

1.2

0.4

0.374

Sleep Efficiency

0.0

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.374

Difficulty sleeping

0.4

0.5

1.0

0.0

0.070

Use of sleep medication

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

-

Difficulty staying awake in daytime

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.5

0.374

Total PSQI score
Subscale

Paired t test (p < 0.05).

1.0 ± 0.0 pts, 0.0 ± 0.0 pts, 0.4 ± 0.5 pts, 0.0 ± 0.0 pts and 0.6 ± 0.5 pts, respectively. Results of PSQI obtained from the post-earthquake houses revealed thatthe total PSQI points were 5.0 ± 2.1 points. As for the subscale, Quality of Sleep,
Sleep Onset, Sleep Minutes, Sleep Efficiency, Difficulty Sleeping, Use of Sleep
Medication and Difficulty Staying Awake in Daytime were 1.2 ± 0.4 pts, 1.0 ± 1.4
pts, 1.2 ± 0.4 pts, 0.2 ± 0.4 pts, 1.0 ± 0.0 pts, 0.0 ± 0.0 pts and 0.4 ± 0.5 pts, respectively. There were no significant differences between the results from thetemporary houses and the post-earthquake houses. However, the total PSQI
points (p = 0.089) and Difficulty Sleeping of the subscale (p = 0.070) were higher
for the post-earthquake houses.

4.4. Objective Stress Evaluation by Saliva Stress
Biomarker (Table 4)
Results of saliva stress biomarker obtained from the temporary houses (mean ±SD) revealed that the α Amylase activity was 167.936 ± 46.424 U/mL before bedtime and 107.699 ± 68.908 U/mL at the time of awakening. Moreover, Cortisol
concentration was 0.047 ± 0.033 μg/dL before bedtime and 0.350 ± 0.264 μg/dL
at the time of awakening. CgA (protein correction value) was 5.802 ± 0.942
pmol/mg before bedtime and 0.443 - 0.140 pmol/mg at the time of wakening.
IgA secretion rate was 14.973 - 8.197 μg/min before bedtime and 99.686 ± 73.488
μg/min at the time of wakening. Results of saliva stress biomarker obtained fromthe temporary houses (mean ± SD) revealed that the αAmylase activity was
260.038 ± 217.049 U/mL before bedtime and 134.742 ± 128.269 U/mL at thetime of awakening. Moreover, Cortisol concentration was 0.049 ± 0.020 μg/dL
before bedtime and 0.407 ± 0.266 μg/dL at the time of awakening. CgA (protein
correction value) was 5.713 ± 2.534 pmol/mg before bedtime and 10.500 ± 4.896
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Table 4. Objective sleep evaluation by stress biomarker at the time of living in emergency
temporary house and post-earthquake public house (n = 5).

Analysis item

Emergency
temporary house

Post-earthquake
public house

p-value

AverageStandard
Standard
Averagedeviation
deviation

Before bedtime (U/mL)

167.936

46.424260.038

217.049

0.333

At the time of awakening (U/mL)

107.699

68.908134.742128.269

0.421

Before bedtime (μg/dL)

0.047

0.033

0.049

0.020

0.925

At the time of awakening (μg/dL)

0.350

0.264

0.407

0.266

0.398

Before bedtime (pmol/mg)

5.802

0.942

5.713

2.534

0.951

At the time of awakening (pmol/mg)

9.443

2.140

10.500

4.896

0.719

Before bedtime (μg/min)

114.973

58.197138.104

69.022

0.252

At the time of awakening (μg/min)

199.686

73.488629.722883.1650.313

αAmylase activity

Cortisol concentration

Chromogranin A (protein correction value)

SIgA secretion rate

Paired t test (p < 0.05).

pmol/mg at the time of awakening. sIgA secretion rate was It was 138.104 ±69.022 μg/min before bedtime and 629.722 ± 883.165 μg/min at the time of
awakening. There were no significant differences between the results from thetemporary houses and the post-earthquake houses.

4.5. Subjective Stress Evaluation by GHQ28 (Table 5)
The total GHQ28 score (mean ± SD) obtained from the temporary houses was
2.4 ± 2.2 points. As for subscale, Physical Symptoms, Anxiety and Insomnia, Social Disability and Depression Tendency were 0.4 ± 0.5 pts, 1.4 ± 1.5 pts, 0.6 ±0.9 pts and 0.0 ± 0.0 pts, respectively. The total GHQ28 score (mean ± SD) obtained from the post-earthquake houses was 6.2 ± 3.4 points. As for subscale,
Physical Symptoms, Anxiety and Insomnia, Social Disability and Depression
Tendency were 2.4 ± 1.8 pts, 3.0 ± 2.0 pts, 0.8 ± 1.1 pts and 0.0 ± 0.0 pts, respectively. The total score and anxiety and insomnia of the subscale exceeded thecutoff point. Comparing the results from temporary houses and those from thepost-earthquake houses, the GHQ28 score (p = 0.030) and Physical Symptoms of
the subscale (p = 0.047) were higher for the post-earthquake houses. Further,
Anxiety and Insomnia of the subscale (p = 0.078) was also higher for the
post-earthquake houses. The total GHQ28 score [21] was 2.89 ± 2.00. The resultof one-sample t-test revealed that there were no significant differences in the total GHQ28 score of the temporary houses while on the other hand the total
GHQ28 score of the post-earthquake houses was high (p = 0.094).
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Table 5. Subjective stress evaluation by GHQ28 at the time of living in emergency temporary house and post-earthquake public house (n = 5).
Emergency temporary house
Average
Total scoe

2.40

Post-earthquake public houseStandard deviation Average
2.19

6.20

Standard deviation
3.42

p value
0.030

SubscalePhysical symptom

0.40

0.55

2.40

1.82

0.047

Anxiety and insomnia

1.40

1.52

3.00

2.00

0.078

Social disability

0.60

0.89

0.80

1.10

0.778

Depression tendency

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-

Paired t test (p < 0.05).

5. Discussion
5.1. Sleep of Late Middle Age Males Spending Evacuation
Life for a Long Period
Results of objective measurement of sleep by Actigrap revealed that there wereno significant changes between the temporary houses and the post-earthquake
houses for each item of Sleep Minutes, Sleep Efficiency, Sleep Latency and Wakeafter Sleep Onset. According to the data of 3577 healthy subjects obtained from65 papers, for which nocturnal objective sleep had been investigated by electroencephalogram, Sleep Minutes of 50-year-old males were approximately 400
minutes, Sleep Efficiency was 87% and Sleep Latency was approximately 17 minutes. Furthermore, Wake after Sleep Onset is approximately around 30 minutes[29]. Although they cannot be compared statistically, the possibility that Wakeafter Sleep Onset of the male victims at the time of living in the temporary
houses possibly increased more than that of the general late middle age males
has been indicated. Since the temporary houses are built by a simple construction method and consist of simple structures as a temporary house where disaster victims live until they move to rebuilt houses or post-earthquake houses, they
are basically small and sound insulation is not sufficient, which forces the residents to live with noise from the neighbors [30]. Considering the fact that Wakeafter Sleep Onset decreased at the time of living in the post-earthquake houses
for which livability was improved, it is possible that arousal increased by thesound of the housemates and the neighbors when they lived in the temporary
houses. Since the life in the temporary houses as a temporary shelter may adversely affect sleep of the residents, it is desired to support the residents so thatthey can move to post-earthquake houses or their own houses as soon as possible. Since changes in subjective sleep were observed in the total PSQI score (p =0.089) and Difficulty Sleeping of the subscale (p = 0.070), the possibility that the
subjective sleep at the time of living in the post-earthquake houses residence
worsened has been indicated. According to the large-scale investigation [31] forvictims of the Great East Japan Earthquake performed in Miyagi, the rate ofsuspected sleep disorders (more than 6 points in Athens Insomnia Scale) increased in the subjects who moved to new houses and those who moved to the
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post-earthquake houses. It has been reported that in the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake, the victims suffered from stress that newly occurred due to variation in physical and human environmental factors after they moved from temporary houses to post-earthquake houses [32]. Since the time period for which
the data for this study were collected was only 5 months after the subjects moved
to the post-earthquake houses, the fact that subject were not used to change inthe physical and human environment after moving may have worsened theirsubjective sleep. It is necessary to measure sleep at regular intervals and graspchanges in the sleep of late middle age males who are the victims of the disaster,and to provide support to them in the future.

5.2. Stress of Late Middle Age Males Spending Evacuation
Life for a Long Period
The results of evaluation of objective stress with saliva stress biomarkers haverevealed that there are no significant differences between temporal houses andpost-earthquake houses. However, as for GHQ28, which was used as a subjective
stress index, the total GHQ28 score obtained at the time of living in the
post-earthquake houses and Physical Symptoms, Anxiety and Insomnia of thesubscale exceeded the cutoff point. Furthermore, it has been clarified that themental health of the subjects at the time of living in the post-earthquake houses
was higher than that of general males, and was significantly worse than that at
the time of living in the temporal houses. From the past disasters, it has been revealed that GHQ is significantly improved with time after disasters. The investigation carried out for the victims of eruptions of Mt. Fugen in Unzen [33] revealed that the rates of high GHQ30 scorers were 66.1% at 6 months, 50.8% at 12
months, 55.6% at 24 months, 45.6% at 44 months and 29.4% at 102 months after
the disaster suggesting that it was significantly improved with time. Moreover,the investigation for the victims of the Okushiri Tsunami Disaster [34] revealed
that the rates of the high GHQ28 scorer (6 points or more) were 76.6% at 10
months, 68.0% at 27 months, 57.2% at 51 months and 54.6% at 74 months after
the disaster suggesting that it was also significantly improved with time. In thisstudy, the authors have not grasped changes in mental health of the victims forthe period from right after the disaster to 56th month. However, comparison
between the mental health at 56 months and 78 months after the disaster has
suggested that mental health was significantly worsened. The large-scale investigation performed in Miyagi described above [31] revealed that the rate of thevictims with high psychological distress increased once after they had moved topost-earthquake houses, and then decreased down to the rate that is same as thatat the time when they had moved to temporary houses. Norris, F. H. [5] haspointed out that the temporal or permanent relocation affects relations withneighborhood and causes interpersonal tension and conflict, which eventuallyruins the social network and causes secondary negative psychological social impacts. The investigation of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake [35] clarified
that relations with neighborhood and friends after moving to post-earthquake
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houses tended to be lost in the large scale and high-rise living environment. The
victim of the nuclear station accidents by the Great East Japan Earthquake lostthe community they had had before the disaster due to evacuation, and forced tolive in temporary houses for an exceptionally long period. Furthermore, they lostthe community among the residents of temporary houses, which was newly
formed during 6 years in their evacuation life after they move to the postearthquake houses. Although several years have passed since the occurrence ofthe disaster, the mental health of the late middle age males who evacuated for along period has been worsened by the nuclear disaster. Relocation to thepost-earthquake houses is considered as a factor for it. Most of the past investigations on the mental health of disaster victims were performed at a relatively
early stage and 80% of them were performed within 1 year after the disasters[36]. In Japan, such investigations came to be performed often since the Great
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. However, about a half of them was performed
within one year after the disaster and 40% of them were done within 1 - 4 years
while on the other hand only few of them were performed over 4 years after thedisaster [37]. It has been proved that feeling of rest obtained by sleep strongly
influences mental health [38] and therefore it is important to keep observing thecourse of sleep and stress of the victims.

6. Conclusion
As for the results of investigation on sleep and stress of late middle age males
who were forced to live in shelters for a long period due to the nuclear disaster,comparison between the life in temporary houses and post-earthquake houses
has revealed that there were no significant differences in objective sleep state andsaliva stress biomarkers though the subjective sleep and stress was worsened after moving to the post-earthquake houses.

7. Limitations of the Study
There have been no studies that measured objective sleep and stress of late middle age males who assumes an important role for the reconstruction. The number of subjects was insufficient for this investigation and therefore there is a limitation in terms of generalization of the results. The authors are going to investigate the course of the subjects continuously in the future, and clarify the sleep
and stress of late middle age males living in shelters for a long period due to the
nuclear disaster by investigating individual experiences through interviews andintegrating qualitative data and quantitative data, so as to seek for methods tosupport them.

Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the residents for their cooperation for this investigation. This study was conducted with the aid of 2015 Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research (C) (No. 15K11929).
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