Hidetoshi Hoshikawa, Kenta Sawazaki, Hiroyuki Nkazawa, Takayasu Murakami

Faculty of Health Promotional Sciences, Tokoha University

Abastract

Introduction: Elevated vagal activity may lead to improvement of diseases induced by chronic mental stress. Recently, Hotta et al. (2012) revealed that noninvasive mechanical skin stimulation affects rat autonomic response. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of noninvasive skin stimulation by microcones on autonomic nerve activity during mental stress task. Methods:12 university studentskept rest in sitting posture for 20 minutes andperformed mental arithmetic tasks between 5th and 15 thminutes. This trial was repeated under three conditions: a tool with microcones (S), a tool withoutmicrocones (P), and no tool (N). The tool was applied to the cavum concha of both ears.The electrocardiogram, the blood pressure, the salivary amylase activity (SAA), and the subjective fatigue feeling by VAS (Visual Analogue Scale)were measured. Results & Discussion: VAS was significantly increased during mental arithmetictask at all conditions. At P and N conditions, RRI decreased significantly during the mental arithmetic task. On the other hand, at S condition, there was no significant difference in RRI before and between mental arithmetic tasksThese results suggested that skin stimulation by microconesat the cavum conchamay reduce mental stress.

Keywords: Noninvasive skin stimulation, acupuncture, microcones, mental stress