Urinary dopamine in physical and mental effort.

Dopamine in urine was investigated during three levels of physical stress (at 35%, 50%, and 75% VO2 max.) and three kinds of mental stress (delayed auditory feedback, vigilance task and arithmetic task). A statistically significant increase in excretion of dopamine was found in response to physical exercise and the delayed auditory feedback test. The response patterns (ratios noradrenaline/dopamine and adrenaline/dopamine) after physical and mental stress differed. The data presented support the possibility of using dopamine excretion and the above ratios to differentiate between mental and physical effort.