A new model of ventilatory control during exercise

The Importance of Respiratory Rate Monitoring: From Healthcare to Sport and Exercise

“…It is well established that emotions affect ventilation, with a preferential influence exerted on f R rather than V T [8]. This is not surprising considering that f R has been defined as the behavioral component of minute ventilation [19,20,22]. f R increases with experimentally-induced anticipatory anxiety, unlike V T , oxygen uptake or carbon dioxide output [179].…”

“…Importantly, a neurophysiological link between dyspnea and f R is evident because they are both regulated, at least to some extent, by the activity of areas of the brain relating to motor control, volition, cognition, and emotion processing [11,21,22,[144][145][146]. On the other hand, dyspnea is a multidimensional sensation composed of three respiratory sensations with somewhat different underlying mechanisms and signs, i.e., respiratory effort, air anger, and chest tightness [145].…”

“…On the other hand, dyspnea is a multidimensional sensation composed of three respiratory sensations with somewhat different underlying mechanisms and signs, i.e., respiratory effort, air anger, and chest tightness [145]. For instance, air anger is at least partially regulated by the magnitude of chemoreceptor afferent activity [147], and may thus be associated with a predominant increase in V T [19,22,147]. An emblematic example is the air hunger associated with the deep and regular breathing observed in patients with metabolic acidosis, which is known as the "Kussmaul's sign" [148].…”

“…An emblematic example is the air hunger associated with the deep and regular breathing observed in patients with metabolic acidosis, which is known as the "Kussmaul's sign" [148]. Conversely, respiratory effort is at least partially regulated by the central motor drive to the locomotor and respiratory muscles (i.e., central command) [145,147], and may thus determine a predominant increase in f R [13,22]. Given that patients present with various combinations of the afore-mentioned respiratory sensations [147], the monitoring of f R and V T may help shed some light on the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying dyspnea.…”

“…During exercise, f R is a good marker of physical effort and fatigue [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] and is associated with exercise tolerance in different populations [14,18]. Recent advances in the understanding of the control of ventilation corroborate the importance of monitoring f R and explain why f R but not tidal volume (V T ) (the other component of minute ventilation) responds to a variety of non-metabolic stressors [7,11,12,17,[19][20][21][22]. Likewise, technological development in the field of sensors and techniques for measuring f R is growing exponentially, and a series of measurement solutions are currently available [23][24][25][26].…”