Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Appl Ergon. 2011 Nov;42(6):830-8. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2011.01.005. Epub 2011 Feb 26.
Changes in autonomic nervous system function have been related to work stress induced increases in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Our purpose was to examine whether various heart rate variability (HRV) measures and new HRV-based relaxation measures are related to self-reported chronic work stress and daily emotions. The relaxation measures are based on neural network modelling of individual baseline heart rate and HRV information. Nineteen healthy hospital workers were studied during two work days during the same work period. Daytime, work time and night time heart rate, as well as physical activity were recorded. An effort-reward imbalance (ERI) questionnaire was used to assess chronic work stress. The emotions of stress, irritation and satisfaction were assessed six times during both days. Seventeen subjects had an ERI ratio over 1, indicating imbalance between effort and reward, that is, chronic work stress. Of the daily emotions, satisfaction was the predominant emotion. The daytime relaxation percentage was higher on Day 2 than on Day 1 (4 ± 6% vs. 2 ± 3%, p < 0.05) and the night time relaxation (43 ± 30%) was significantly higher than daytime or work time relaxation on the both Days. Chronic work stress correlated with the vagal activity index of HRV. However, effort at work had many HRV correlates: the higher the work effort the lower daytime HRV and relaxation time. Emotions at work were also correlated with work time (stress and satisfaction) and night time (irritation) HRV. These results indicate that daily emotions at work and chronic work stress, especially effort, is associated with cardiac autonomic function. Neural network modelling of individual heart rate and HRV information may provide additional information in stress research in field conditions.
自主神经系统功能的变化与工作压力导致的心血管发病率和死亡率增加有关。我们的目的是研究各种心率变异性（HRV）指标和新的基于 HRV 的放松指标是否与自我报告的慢性工作压力和日常情绪有关。放松指标是基于个体基础心率和 HRV 信息的神经网络建模。19 名健康的医院工作人员在同一工作期间的两个工作日内进行了研究。记录了白天、工作时间和夜间的心率以及体力活动。使用努力-回报失衡（ERI）问卷评估慢性工作压力。在两天内，六次评估了压力、烦躁和满意这三种情绪。17 名受试者的 ERI 比值超过 1，表明努力与回报之间失衡，即慢性工作压力。在日常情绪中，满意度是主要情绪。与第一天相比，第二天白天的放松百分比更高（4±6%对 2±3%，p<0.05），而且在两天内，夜间的放松（43±30%）明显高于白天或工作时间的放松。慢性工作压力与 HRV 的迷走神经活动指数相关。然而，工作中的努力与许多 HRV 指标相关：工作努力越高，白天的 HRV 和放松时间越低。工作时的情绪也与工作时间（压力和满意度）和夜间（烦躁）的 HRV 相关。这些结果表明，工作时的日常情绪和慢性工作压力，特别是工作努力，与心脏自主功能有关。个体心率和 HRV 信息的神经网络建模可能会在现场条件下的应激研究中提供额外信息。
