Atotalof30studentsscoringbetween12and20ontheTestAnxietyScalewhohadbeenexhibitingananxiousstate>24hours,and30normalcontrolstudentswererecruited.IndicesofheartratevariabilitywererecordedusinganActiheartelectrocardiogramrecorderat10minutesbeforeauricularpressing,inthefirsthalfofstimulationandinthesecondhalfofstimulation.Theresultsrevealedthatthestandarddeviationofallnormaltonormalintervalsandtherootmeansquareofstandarddeviationofnormaltonormalintervalsweresignificantlyincreasedafterstimulation.Theheartratevariabilitytriangularindex,very-low-frequencypower,low-frequencypower,andtheratiooflow-frequencytohigh-frequencypowerwereincreasedtodifferentdegreesafterstimulation.Comparedwithnormalcontrols,therootmeansquareofstandarddeviationofnormaltonormalintervalswassignificantlyincreasedinanxiousstudentsfollowingauricularpressing.Theseresultsindicatedthatauricularpressingcanelevateheartratevariability,especiallytherootmeansquareofstandarddeviationofnormaltonormalintervalsinstudentswithpre-examanxiety.
