Alleviation of the acute stress response following mild orange essential oil administration

摘要: We investigated the effect of two different concentrations orange aroma on peripheral and cardiac autonomic nervous system activity under a stressful condition in highly reproducible manner. In within-subjects experiment, 19 subjects performed 30-min calculation task three conditions: 1% orange, 20% scentless air (control). Each was delivered to subject intermittently with use proprietary olfactometer counter-balanced order. Along visual analog scale (VAS), nose tip temperature electrocardiograms were recorded throughout experiment. Regardless condition, significant decreases high-frequency (HF) component heart rate variability (HRV) increase (HR) observed during task, denoting typical acute stress response. However, increase/decrease HR HF significantly smaller than control indicating an inhibition sympathetic elevation parasympathetic suppression. There no differences between doses for VAS scores. The findings suggest that mild essential oil inhalation inhibits response while demonstrating subjective stress. © 2017 Institute Electrical Engineers Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.