At the International Scientific Student Conference, 11th grade students at NSU SESC Mikhail Bekukh and Yuliana Kudryavtseva presented a report «Physical study of the human body in various stressful situations». Their work measuring the physical and physiological parameters of the body during artificially created stress using thermal imaging and other physical research tools was conducted at the Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics SB RAS. Their scientific advisor was Boris Vainer, the Institutes leading researcher, Professor at the SESC NSU and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
While the subject is sitting in a comfortable chair, the quantitative values of indicators for several physiological parameters including pulse wave velocity in the radial artery, heart rate, limb temperature, respiratory dynamics, and blood pressure were simultaneously measured. At the same time, the person experienced activities that cause stress: clamping the vessels of the arm with a cuff, prolonged breath holding, and breathing under the control of a metronome. The reaction of a smoker's body to quitting smoking was also studied.
Vainer provided more details,
The students conducted a multifaceted study using different methods. We got interesting results. They are of value, first of all, for physiology. They managed, for example, to successfully observe a change in physiological parameters in a person holding their breath 2-3 minutes! Our group's work is the only study in the world using modern thermal imaging so it is especially valuable. All results obtained are considered to be pilots. Using specific examples, the young scientists managed to discover new manifestations of the human body subjected to various types of stressful influences, which is very important for biomedical science. In order to find out for which groups of people the changes identified are relevant, it is necessary to increase sample sizes and conduct larger studies.
