Intellectual Work Using a Video Game Inhibits Post Hyperventilation Hyperpnoea Following Voluntary Hyperventilation While it Stimulates Breathing At Rest

Abstract

It has been reported that visual and auditory stimuli significantly increase respiratory frequency (f) and ventilation ($({\dot V_E})$ relative to resting levels (8). However, the effects of intellectual work, which would require widespread parallel activation of central nervous system (CNS) in motor, sensory and associated integrative areas of the cortex, on${\dot V_E}$ and breathing patterns have not been well documented. Post hyperventilation hyperpnoea (PHH) (9, 10) or ventilatory afterdischarge (2) is the time-dependent continued hyperventilation after the abrupt termination of a ventilatory stimulus. Plum et al. (6) showed that PHH was frequently impaired in patients with brain disorders. These results have led to the hypothesis that intellectual work could have effects on resting ventilation and PHH in man. To test this hypothesis we evaluated${\dot V_E}$, breathing patterns and the changes in PaCO2 using inductive plethysmography and transcutaneous PCO2 (PtcCO2) measurements during intellectual work in normal subjects. We also investigated the effects of intellectual work on PHH following voluntary hyperventilation (VHV) for 3 minutes.