We investigated the effects of laughing and weeping induced by watching comedy and tragedy videos on mood and autonomic nervous function. Ten healthy female subjects volunteered for the experiment. Chest electrocardiogram and respiration curve were recorded before, after, and during watching a comedy or a tragedy video. We also asked them to fill out profiles of mood states (POMS) to evaluate their mood states while watching videos. Autonomic nervous function was estimated by spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). All subjects more or less laughed and wept while watching comedy and tragedy videos, respectively. Anger-hostility score of the POMS decreased and vigor score increased significantly after watching comedy videos, while depression-dejection score increased significantly after watching tragedy ones. Although both contents tended to increase a low to high frequency component ratio (LF/HF ratio) of HRV, the time course of responses was different. The LF/HF ratio which reflects cardiac sympathovagal balance increased immediately after they started watching comedy videos, and returned to the basal level right after they stopped watching, whereas the LF/HF ratio increased gradually to a lesser extent while watching tragedy videos. In contrast, the high-frequency component which reflects cardiac parasympathetic nerve activity gradually decreased while watching both videos but did not return to the basal level after watching tragedy ones. These results suggest that laughing has strong but transient effects on the autonomic nervous system, while weeping or feeling sad has moderate but sustained effects on it.

It is well known that moderate exercise is beneficial to health. However, the effects of exercise on subjective symptoms in relation to mood and autonomic nervous function have not yet been fully examined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of daily walking on subjective symptoms as well as on mood and autonomic nervous function in people who take no medication but have some general physical complaints. We assessed their symptoms by the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), and mood states by a profile of mood states (POMS) and a frontal alpha laterality ratio. Autonomic nervous function was evaluated by a supine rest basal level, reactivity to orthostatic challenge (physiological stimulus) and to a self-programmed videogame (psychophysiological stimulus) of heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), baroreflex sensitivity and blood pressure (BP). Repeated measures analysis of variance showed no significant group (control and walking group) x time (pre- and post- walking period) interaction of CMI scores. In contrast, the A-H sub-scale (anger and hostility) of POMS and basal HR significantly decreased after a 4-week walking period in a walking group compared to a control group. Negative mood score of POMS reduced, and basal high-frequency component of HRV and reactivity to orthostatic challenge of baroreflex sensitivity increased marginally significantly compared to the control group. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant contribution of A-H to the physical score of CMI, which showed a marginally significant reduction after the experimental period in the walking group. These results suggest that daily walking can improve mood states and shift autonomic balance to parasympathetic predominance, and may consequently contribute to the reduction of subjective symptoms.

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Susceptibility to stress would presumably be different from person to person and be affected by the cause of the given stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interactive effects of task difficulty and subject's personality on mood and autonomic nervous function when stress was induced experimentally by tasks involving 3 degrees of difficulty: easy (Task A), difficult but controllable (Task B), and very difficult and uncontrollable (Task C). Twelve healthy female subjects volunteered for the experiment. We assessed their personalities using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) questionnaire. Mood states were evaluated by a profile of mood states and a frontal alpha laterality ratio (FALR). Autonomic nervous function was estimated by a spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Repeated measures analysis of variance applied to two groups (low- and high-) divided by a median split of MMPI clinical scales, revealed significant interactions of time course x task difficulty x Hs (hypochondriasis) in FALR and time course x task difficulty x Pt (psychasthenia) in a low-frequency component and in a high-frequency component of HRV, and in FALR. The differences between low- and high-Hs, and low- and high-Pt were more obvious in Task B session. High-Hs group, whose members tend to place overemphasis on existing physical disorders, showed more negative FALR throughout the session, which would indicate prolonged negative mood possibly due to the task. High-Pt group, whose members tend to be susceptible to stress, showed sympathetic predominance during task period and parasympathetic predominance after task period, which would imply a tendency to overreact. These results suggest that task difficulties would affect mood states assessed by FALR and/or autonomic nervous function differently depending on the subject's personality, especially on Hs and Pt.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the presence or absence (control) of a partition board and its color (red, yellow, blue) on subjective mood ratings and changes in autonomic nervous system indicators induced by a video game task. The increase in the mean Profile of Mood States (POMS) Fatigue score and mean Oppressive feeling rating after the task was lowest with the blue partition board. Multiple-regression analysis identified oppressive feeling and error scores on the second half of the task as statistically significant contributors to Fatigue. While explanatory variables were limited to the physiological indices, multiple-regression analysis identified a significant contribution of autonomic reactivity (assessed by heart rate variability) to Fatigue. These results suggest that a blue partition board would reduce task-induced subjective fatigue, in part by lowering the oppressive feeling of being enclosed during the task, possibly by increasing autonomic reactivity.