Deep Breaths can be a Stress Detector: Study

Researchers from Loughborough University claim that a person's deep breaths could be a detector of stress.

The study identifies six markers in breath that could be tested to identify stress in a person.

The study was conducted on 22 subjects that included 10 males and 12 females, each of who took part in two sessions. In the first session, the subjects were asked to sit comfortably and listen to non-stressful music, and in the second session the subjects were asked to perform a mental arithmetic test. The test was designed in a manner to induce stress in the subjects.

Before and after each session, a breath test was conducted. Apart from this, their heart rate and blood pressure was also recorded, and with the help of a technique known as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, they examined the breath samples of the subjects. They then compared it to other compounds.

After participating in a stressful exercise, the researchers noticed an increase in two compounds mainly 2 methyl, pentadecane and indole. They noticed four other compounds that decrease with stress.

Lead author of the study, Loughborough's professor Paul Thomas from the Department of Chemistry, said in a press statement, "If we can measure stress objectively in a non-invasive way, then it may benefit patients and vulnerable people in long-term care who find it difficult to disclose stress responses to their carers, such as those suffering from Alzheimer's." 

The researchers suggest the need for further study that involves more people belonging to different age groups, since the current study involved a small number of participants. Apart from that, the new study has to be conducted in a normal setting.

The study has been published in the Journal of Breath Research.