State anxiety and cardiovascular activity in an academic examination

We consider aspects of highly skilled athletes organism physiological adaptation to influence of mental and physical loadings. We define the basics of functional processes in the athlete body, especially the functioning of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems under stress. We reflect the interrelation of the human body functional state with the level of stress experienced by them, as well as the level of personal state anxiety. We consider the intensive mental activity and emotional overstrain formation mechanisms at athletes, including, high class. We show the physi-cal activity influence mechanism on the level of pulmonary ventilation and cardiovascular activity. We consider the change of stress level experienced by highly qualified athletes in conditions of intense mental and physical activity. We highlight the physical activity influence on the physiological processes in the athlete body through the implementation of nervous and humoral mechanisms regulation.

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"Exercise on Prescription. Cardiovascular Activity for Health," John Buckley, Jane Holmes and Gareth Mapp

CrossRef Listing of Deleted DOIs ◽

10.1080/003655000750045631 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 3-3

Author(s):

Gunnar Grimby

Keyword(s):

Cardiovascular Activity

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Effects of Fear Induction on Heart Period Variability

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027//0269-8803.13.1.18 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 18-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rudolf Stark ◽

Alfons Hamm ◽

Anne Schienle ◽

Bertram Walter ◽

Dieter Vaitl

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

State Anxiety ◽

Self Report ◽

Emotional States ◽

Heart Period ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Heart Period Variability ◽

Physiological Variables ◽

Period Variability

Abstract The present study investigated the influence of contextual fear in comparison to relaxation on heart period variability (HPV), and analyzed differences in HPV between low and high anxious, nonclinical subjects. Fifty-three women participated in the study. Each subject underwent four experimental conditions (control, fear, relaxation, and a combined fear-relaxation condition), lasting 10 min each. Fear was provoked by an unpredictable aversive human scream. Relaxation should be induced with the aid of verbal instructions. To control for respiratory effects on HPV, breathing was paced at 0.2 Hz using an indirect light source. Besides physiological measures (HPV measures, ECG, respiration, forearm EMG, blood pressure), emotional states (pleasure, arousal, dominance, state anxiety) were assessed by subjects' self-reports. Since relaxation instructions did not have any effect neither on the subjective nor on the physiological variables, the present paper focuses on the comparison of the control and the fear condition. The scream reliably induced changes in both physiological and self-report measures. During the fear condition, subjects reported more arousal and state anxiety as well as less pleasure and dominance. Heart period decreased, while EMG and diastolic blood pressure showed a tendency to increase. HPV remained largely unaltered with the exception of the LF component, which slightly decreased under fear induction. Replicating previous findings, trait anxiety was negatively associated with HPV, but there were no treatment-specific differences between subjects with low and high trait anxiety.

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