Effect of perceived happiness level on cardiac response to mental stress testing : A pilot study

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that perceived happiness influences stress responses to mental stress testing. We examined the effects of perceived happiness on heart rate (HR) and subjective responses induced by mental stress tests such as speech and mental arithmetic between high and low happiness groups screened according to levels of perceived happiness among 235 participants. After a 10 minutes pre-task period, 8 high and 8 low happiness participants completed the task period which included 2 minutes preparation for speech, 3 minutes speech and 5 minutes mental arithmetic in front of an observer followed by a 30 minutes post task period. Subjective stress responses were assessed by NASA-TLX. HR was higher in the lower happiness group compared to the higher happiness group during the pre-task and mental arithmetic. Both groups did not differ in subjective stress responses.