Using a new compact and stable device, skin conductance change (SCC) was measured in five female undergraduates during sleep. The SCC trends and waveforms were almost identical to those of simultaneously recorded skin potential activity (SPA). A gradual increase in sympathetic sweating during sleep was also observed using SCC. However, the confounding effects of a burst of positive skin potential responses usually seen in SPA were absent using SCC.

Relationships between somatic complaints and alexithymic tendencies were investigated in junior-high-school students N 1,206; 626 boys and 580 girls that completed the Somatic Complaint List SCL and the Alexithymia Scale for Adolescents ASA. Results indicated that girls had signi cantly higher total SCL scores than boys d .18 , and third-year students had signi cantly higher total SCL scores than rst-year students d .18. Moreover, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that di culty identifying feelings DIF subscale of the ASA contributed to higher SCL scores boys: β .33, p .01; girls: β .37, p .01 , and furthermore, diculty describing feelings DDF subscale played a role in increasing somatic complaints in boys β .10, p .05. Also, the DIF DDF interaction was associated with the total SCL score in girls. ese results suggest that alexithymic tendencies, especially DIF and secondarily DDF, in uence somatic complaints of junior-highschool students.

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Although self-controlled breathing is a widely used relaxation technique, little is known about the mechanisms underlying its clinical effects. Thus, the purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of paced breathing (PB) on the respiratory system. Following a 20-min rest, 10 healthy males and females engaged in slow PB, moving progressively from 12 through 2 cpm. We found the following: 1 subjects progressively reduced their respiration rate (RR) (p .05); 2 the pressure of the end-tidal CO 2 (PetCO 2) was maintained under PB conditions, whereas the constant error and coefficient of variation of RR increased markedly under the 2-cpm PB condition (p .05); 3 minute ventilation (V • E), CO 2 output (V • CO 2), and CO 2 equivalence (V • E/V • CO 2) decreased significantly under the 2-cpm condition (p .05), demonstrating gas-exchange efficiency; and 4 the total power of heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity were highest under the 4-cpm breathing condition. These results suggest that PB does not affect the respiratory gas-exchange system but does affect respiratory sensations, such as suffocation.