Life Situations, Emotions, and Exercise Tolerance

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Abstract
Three groups of subjects were studied: 11 subjects suffering from neurocirculatory asthenia without evidence of structural heart disease; 16 subjects with hypertension or various degrees of heart damage; and 8 healthy young subjects. Measurements of circulatory function (blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac index) before and after exercise were made from time to time. Exercise tolerance was also tested before and after experimentally induced changes in the emotional state of the subject. A close correlation was found between the emotional state and the cardiac activity of all subjects, both when at rest and after exercise. The healthy normal group showed fewer emotional changes and less resultant variation in exercise tolerance than did the 2 groups of patients. The emotional state of the patients with neurocirculatory asthenia was more variable than in normal subjects, and was associated with marked fluctuations in the signs and symptoms accompanying physical exertion. Even in the group with structural heart disease, effort intolerance was chiefly due to chronic or repetitive emotional disturbances. Illustrative case histories are included.