Abstract
Previous research on respiration and psychology indicated that anxiety level has a close relationship with respiratory pattern. The objective of our study was to compare respiratory pattern and anxiety of rhythmic gymnasts to regular students to find characteristics of group sports athletes. Respiration of 15 female college level rhythmic gymnasts (AG) and 28 medical students (RG) were tested by the CO2 rebreathing method using gas containing 5% CO2 and 95% O2. VE (minute ventilation), ETCO2 (end-tidal CO2), VT (tidal volume), and RR (respiratory rate) were measured throughout three stages: rest, rebreathing and recovery. Anxiety was measured by Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. CO2 response was defined as the slope of the response curve and the respiratory pattern was sought by calculating the VT% and RR% contributions to the rise of VE during rebreathing. Data from 13 gymnasts and 26 students were used for analysis. As a result, AG was significantly higher on both the trait and state anxiety. The AG average VE was lower during rest stage and ETCO2 had less variance. There was no significant difference in the CO2 response and no correlation between anxiety levels and respiratory parameters. Although there were no significant differences in the average RR% and VT% contributions, there was significantly less variance in AG suggesting similar breathing rhythms. These results indicate that in comparison to regular students, rhythmic gymnasts are high in anxiety and similar in respiratory patterns. [J Physiol Sci. 2008;58 Suppl:S116]
