Authors: Edith Filaire Hugues Portier Alain Massart Luis Ramat Anna Teixeira
Publish Date: 2009/12/11
Volume: 108, Issue: 5, Pages: 1035-1043
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine cardiovascular heart rate variability HRV and autonomic nervous system activation by evaluating salivary alphaamylase activity that occur in professors both to and after the delivery of a lecture to 200 students and to determine whether gender is an influencing factor upon response Fiftytwo participants 26 women and 26 men collected eight unstimulated saliva samples on 2 days one a working day on which the lecture was given the other a nonwork or rest day They also completed the Trait version of the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory STAI to assess their dispositional anxiety on the rest day and the State section of the STAI 15 min before and 10 min after their lecture repeated at the same hour on the control rest day The Perceived Stress Scale PSS was also recorded 15 min before the lecture Continuous RR intervals were recorded before and after the lecture and the following HRV parameters were calculated total spectral power P TOT the spectral power of the low frequency component P LF the high frequency component P HF and the ratio LF/HF A reduction P 005 in the HF and HFnu component of HRV and an increase in the LH/HF ratio P 005 were observed at the end of the lecture AA activity measured on the teaching day was significantly higher than that noted on the resting day Lecturing resulted in a significant increase in the secretion of the stress marker alphaamylase Men and women did not differ in trait and state anxiety and no gender differences for HRV or AA activity were found
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