To determine whether self-control of breathing can alter cardiovascular and psychological reactivity to a laboratory stressor, 29 male and female subjects were assigned at random to either experimental (n=13) or control (n=16) groups. All of the subjects completed two sessions of three trials each following a laboratory stress protocol involving mental arithmetic and cold pressor tests. The experimental subjects did not regulate their breathing during the first trial of each session, and tried

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... o regulate their minute ventilation (MV) at their resting level during the following two trials using breath-by-breath MV feedback. The experimental subjects were able to prevent increases in their MV in response to the stressor, and had a significantly slower respiration rate, larger tidal volume, and higher end-tidal PCO2 than the control 2004.9.8受 稿,20055.20受 理