在今日這種高速遽變性、高競爭性的大環境下，鮮少有人不被壓力所苦。根據美國醫學學會(American Medical Association, AMA)的估計，約有75％的疾病是由壓力(stress)所引起。因此當一個現代人，學習對於壓力的管理，如預測、避免與減少壓力源，是日常生活中不可或缺的知識。

本研究目的為利用末梢血流(PPG) 與心率變異率(HRV)來評估潛在的心理壓力程度。利用壓力量表將十五位健康的受測者初步分成無壓力族群、中間可疑族群及有壓力族群。實驗結果顯示有壓力的族群有比較高的心率及較高的超低頻變異率(VLF)與較低的第五諧波頻譜，而健康族群在接受刺激後所有的生理參數都可以在十分鐘後恢復到刺激前的程度。

Few people do not suffer from mental stress in this high variant and competitive environment of the present day. About 75% diseases are caused by the mental stress from the American Medical Association (AMA) estimated statistics. Thus, learning how to forecast, avoid and reduce the stress source for the modern people is an indispensable technique in daily life.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential mental stress level using the harmonic spectra of the peripherial blood flow and the heart rate variability (HRV). Fifteen healthy participants were classified into three groups: highly stressed (HS) individuals, moderately stressed (MS) individuals, and healthy controls based on the stress forms. The HS individuals showed higher heart-beat rate, higher VLF (very low-frequency power) values of the HRV and lower 5th (C5) pulse harmonic than the control. The results also showed that all physiological signals of the control recovered to nearly the same values as before the mental stress test over a ten-minute rest.

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