ANXIETY AND RESPIRATORY PATTERNS - THEIR RELATIONSHIP DURING MENTAL STRESS AND PHYSICAL LOAD

In the present study we investigated the effect of mental stress on re spiration using unpleasant sounds. To compare the center output of eac h stimuli, subjects took part in one session divided into two phases: a mental stress test and a physical loading test. The purpose of this study was not only to investigate ventilatory response in emotions cau sed by mental stress and physical load, but also to determine the rela tionship between respiratory pattern and personality. Ten normal subje cts were measured for (V) over dot(E) (minute ventilation), V-T (tidal volume), RR (respiratory rate), (V) over dot O-2 (O-2 consumption), ( V) over dot CO2 (CO2 production) and FETCO2 (end-tidal CO2 concentrati on) on a breath-by-breath basis; the subjects were given Spielberger's State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before beginning this experiment . Unpleasant emotions caused by mental stress altered the breathing pa ttern. (V) over dot(E) increase was achieved by the combination of VT and RR disregarding the subjects' personality. However, subjects with high anxiety RR increased more than V-T resulting in a positive correl ation between the trait anxiety score and RR. We found that a dominant RR increase was observed not only in the mental stress test but also in the physical loading test. In the physical load, there was a positi ve correlation between the state anxiety score and RR. These results i ndicate that respiratory patterns are related to personality anxiety. These findings may provide important evidence relating respiratory fun ction to psychological aspects. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.