VOLUNTARILY INDUCED INCREASES IN THE RATES OF CERTAIN "INVOLUNTARY" PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF A HUMAN SUBJECT

Abstract

The total respiratory exchange, pulse and respiration rates, and the systolic and diastolic blood pressures were detd. with a human subject in the typical "basal" post-absorptive condition and in 5- and 10-min. periods during which without visibly apparent effort, he voluntarily produced increases in all the factors: 13-32% O absorption, 17-26% pulse rate, 9-28% systolic pressure, and 4-27% diastolic pressure. Only when the subject lay practically nude could any indication of effort be detected. Under ordinary conditions of B.M.R. measurement the causes for the increased values would have remained obscure. The metabolic rate measured under the usual prescribed basal conditions is therefore not necessarily the basal rate.