Why the study?
Does elicitation of the relaxation response decrease oxygen consumption in subjects working at a fixed intensity?
Does elicitation of the relaxation response decrease oxygen consumption in subjects working at a fixed intensity?
Eliciting the relaxation response during fixed-intensity exercise can significantly decrease oxygen consumption.
May lower oxygen demand during exercise; hypothesis-generating for cardiovascular applications pending randomized trials.
Oxygen consumption is usually considered to be predictable and unalterable at a fixed work intensity. The relaxation response is hypothesized to be an integrated hypothalamic response which results in generalized decreased sympathetic nervous system activity. One physiologic manifestation of the relaxation response is decreased oxygen consumption. The possibility that the elicitation of the relaxation response could decrease oxygen consumption at a fixed work intensity was investigated. Oxygen consumption was decreased 4 percent (p less than 0.05) in eight subjects working at a fixed intensity when the relaxation response was simultaneously elicited.
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Benson et al. (1978) studied this question.
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