title: Geopathic stress zones: short-term effects on work performance and well-being?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to evaluate whether two different locations in the same room as tested by dowsers ("geopathic stress zone" [GSZ] versus "more neutral zone" [NZ]) would show significant short-term effects on work performance and well-being. It was also tested whether a device reported to "neutralize" GSZ would influence results obtained with the specific setup used in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a blinded, randomized, short-term laboratory experiment using a within-subject design.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in the laboratory of the Research Institute for Frontier Questions of Medicine and Biotechnology at Salzburg Federal Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were 26 persons, aged 20-57.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants had to accomplish reaction tasks during three different conditions: GSZ, NZ, and GSZ with a device reported to "neutralize" GSZ. These conditions were counterbalanced into six different sequences and randomized to the subjects. At the end of each condition, a standardized well-being questionnaire had to be completed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dependent variables were reactive stress tolerance (reaction time, timely right answers, right answers, false answers, left out) and well-being (described by six adjectives).
  
  
  RESULTS
  No location-dependent effects on performance during reactive stress tolerance test were seen. For well-being, analysis of variance revealed a trend (p = 0.07) and showed significantly poorer well-being during the GSZ condition compared to NZ (p = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that well-being can be location dependent and that this might be caused by a so-called GSZ. However, in our short-term experiment, factors of work performance tested remained unaffected.
authors.affiliation: IGGMB-Research Institute for Frontier Questions of Medicine and Biotechnology, Landeskrankenhaus Salzburg, University Clinics of the Paracelsus Medical Private University, Salzburg Federal Clinics (SALK), Salzburg, Austria. c.augner@salk.at
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Augner
authors.forename: Gerhard W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Hacker
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jekel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult