Influence of exam stress on the level of anxiety and respiratory indicators of the body of students with different somatotypes

Abstract

The article studied the level of situational and personal anxiety of students with different somatotypes, as well as external indicators of breathing: respiratory rate (RR), tidal volume at rest (TVR), vital capacity (VC), inspiratory reserve volume (IRV), expiratory reserve volume (ERV) under exam stress.

Currently, the health of students requires a lot of attention, because students are one of the representative groups of the population of our country. The health of the younger generation is formed under the influence of biological and social factors. The ability to maintain the resistance of one’s body to exogenous factors and to adapt to changing environmental conditions depends on the state of physical development of students, the functioning of organs and systems. Adaptation to a complex of factors characteristic of higher education in a modern pedagogical environment is a complex and multi-level socio-psycho-physiological process, accompanied by significant tension in the body’s compensatory systems.

Anxiety is a mental state of a person associated with increased emotional or physical stress, a tendency to experience anxiety and fear in specific social situations. The relevance of studying the factors of anxiety and emotional stability (tolerance) is determined, first of all, by the extremity and dynamics of the subject’s current life, which leads him to stress, chronic psycho-emotional tension and fear in space and time.

Homeostasis of the respiratory system is a prerequisite for its normal functioning and is ensured by a number of physiological mechanisms, among which the conditioning function of the lungs occupies a particularly important place. The change in temperature and humidity of inhaled air to the state of the body is carried out due to complex processes of heat and mass transfer in the respiratory tract. Many aspects of this process in normal conditions and especially in pathologies of the respiratory system are controversial issues.

Our study showed a decrease in the adaptive and physical abilities of first-year students with different somatotypes to learning conditions, and changes in physiological indicators after exam stress.

During the study, first-year students with an asthenic somatotype had very high levels of personal and situational anxiety; this increase in anxiety indicates insufficient emotional adaptation to an extreme situation. A high level of anxiety threatens a person’s mental health and contributes to the development of neurotic conditions. A high level of constant anxiety is considered as a condition leading to the development of psychosomatic pathology.

The article examines the indicators of the respiratory system in first-year students during the exam: in comparison with hypersthenic students and asthenic students, normosthenic students have significantly increased hemodynamic indicators, which indicates the influence of exam stress on a significant increase in respiratory rate, which is a large factor. Degree is related to the volume of breathing and, to a lesser extent, to the breathing frequency of the subjects.