CARDIAC RHYTHM AND ADRENALINE EXCRETION AS PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS FOR MENTAL STRESS FOR THE STUDY OF WORK PHYSIOLOGY
1965 Volume 3 Issue 1-2 Pages 1-8
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1965 Volume 3 Issue 1-2 Pages 1-8
The influence of mental load upon the physiological functions was studied by measuring the urinary output of adrenaline and noradrenaline and by recording the heart rate con-tinuously by cardiotachograph on 10 healthy adolescents (average 24 years) and 6 normal middle-aged men (average 52 years) during a continued arithmetical calculation test (Kraepelin-Uchida's test) lasting for 1 hour.
Adrenaline excretion significantly increased during the mental load in both the groups, but no significant increase of noradrenaline was recognized.
The heart rate also increased immediately after the biginning of the test, but it fell to some extent after a certain period of time. A marked physiological arrhythmia observed under the resting condition was interestingly suppressed by exposing to the mental stressor. From the change of the cardiacrhythm, it became apparent that the autonomic nervous function was more stable in the middle-aged than in the adolescent.
As there was an intimaterelationship between the adrenaline excretion and the work-ing capacity, the usefulness of the urinary output of adrenaline as a parameter for mental load is discussed.
