Effects of a firm purpose in life on anxiety and sympathetic nervous activity caused by emotional stress: assessment by psycho-physiological method

Abstract

Purpose: The concept of purpose in life (PIL) has been explained using such words as ‘existentialism’ or ‘meaning in life’. Crumbaugh and Maholic devised a method to quantitatively measure the meaning in life called the PIL test. To clarify the effect of emotional stress on health, the effects of PIL on anxiety and sympathetic nervous activity caused by emotional stress were assessed. Also the relationship between experiences in life and PIL in adults were examined. Methods: Thirty‐two healthy male and female adult volunteers were recruited for this study. The subjects were required to fill out the PIL test, the manifest anxiety scale (MAS) test, the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) test for psychiatric/somatic symptoms, and the Youth and Adulthood Experiences Inventory (YAEI). Autonomic nervous activity was assessed by measuring heart rate variability before and while watching a video of a roller coaster. Results: Scores on the PIL test were negatively correlated with scores on the MAS and CMI test for psychiatric/somatic symptoms. PIL scores were positively correlated with the positive experiences of the YAEI. Heart rate measurements of those classed in the infirm purpose in life (IFPIL) group, taken before and while watching the video, showed significant increases in the coefficient of variance (CV), low frequency power (LF), and the difference between low frequency power and high frequency power (LF‐HF). The IFPIL heart rate measurements taken while watching the video also showed decreases in high frequency power (HF). Conclusion: Firm purpose in life (FPIL), which develops by positive experiences in youth and adulthood, contributes to reducing the development of anxiety and relieving the excessive response of the autonomic nervous system to emotional stress. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cardiac autonomic regulation as a predictor for childhood obesity intervention success

“…LF/HF might have been influenced by psychological stress, which can independently affect LF and HF (31,33), and can cause both activation of sympathetic, and inhibition of vagal, activity (33). Negative stressors such as tension and fear (34), increased effort when conducting tasks (31), and a deficit in positive social relationships, or having negative social experiences despite making affiliative efforts, can all result in increased sympathetic activity, and potentially lead to greater LF and LF/HF (31,35). It may be possible, therefore, that children with poorer social relationships and greater psychological stress were more likely to have a higher LF/HF and gain more weight post-intervention for reasons linked, not only to their inhibitory capacity, but also to their psychological wellbeing.…”

Religious Attachment and the Sense of Life Purpose among Emerging Adults

“…For instance, higher baseline measures of purpose have been found to be negatively associated with mortality, dementia, and psychiatric and somatic symptoms (Boyle et al 2009(Boyle et al , 2010. Life purpose has also been found to reduce the risk of anxiety, depressive symptoms, stroke, and other cardiovascular events, and it can ease responses to emotional stress (Ishida and Okada 2006;Krause 2007). The search for meaning and life direction has been shown to act as a regulatory function of health that predicts healthy eating and activity among adolescent and adult populations (Brassai et al 2015;Piko and Brassai 2016).…”

Purpose in life (ikigai) may improve obesity caused by stress: a proposal based on traits of neurotransmitters related to emotions

“…Previous studies have showed that PIL/ikigai is an effective way to cope with stress. More specifically, persons with firm PIL/ikigai can better decrease anxiety, mental and somatic subjective symptoms and increase pleasure and comfort even in stressful situations and society compared with persons with weak PIL/ikigai [25]. Furthermore, persons with PIL/ikigai have distinct personality traits: having lower social desirability, which is an attitude based on the need for approval and an attempt to adapt excessively to expectation of their society; attaining their purpose with enthusiasm and patience and without impulse; respecting the personality of other persons; and having an more independent spirit [3,21,26,27].…”