title: Association of auricular pressing and heart rate variability in pre-exam anxiety students.
abstract: A total of 30 students scoring between 12 and 20 on the Test Anxiety Scale who had been exhibiting an anxious state > 24 hours, and 30 normal control students were recruited. Indices of heart rate variability were recorded using an Actiheart electrocardiogram recorder at 10 minutes before auricular pressing, in the first half of stimulation and in the second half of stimulation. The results revealed that the standard deviation of all normal to normal intervals and the root mean square of standard deviation of normal to normal intervals were significantly increased after stimulation. The heart rate variability triangular index, very-low-frequency power, low-frequency power, and the ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency power were increased to different degrees after stimulation. Compared with normal controls, the root mean square of standard deviation of normal to normal intervals was significantly increased in anxious students following auricular pressing. These results indicated that auricular pressing can elevate heart rate variability, especially the root mean square of standard deviation of normal to normal intervals in students with pre-exam anxiety.
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Wocao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Junqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Erchuan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Huanlin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Yingyi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: TCM School of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: auricular point therapy; auricular pressing; autonomic nerve system disorder; clinical practice; cowherb seed; grants-supported; heart rate variability; immediate effects; mental disorder; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; paper; pre-exam anxiety; stress; traditional Chinese medicine