Effect of lecturing to 200 students on heart rate variability and alpha-amylase activity.

The aim of this study was to examine cardiovascular [heart rate variability (HRV)] and autonomic nervous system activation (by evaluating salivary alpha-amylase activity) that occur in professors both to, and after, the delivery of a lecture to 200 students and to determine whether gender is an influencing factor upon response. Fifty-two participants (26 women and 26 men) collected eight unstimulated saliva samples on 2 days (one a working day on which the lecture was given, the other a non-work or rest day). They also completed the Trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to assess their dispositional anxiety on the rest day and the State section of the STAI 15 min before and 10 min after their lecture, repeated at the same hour on the control (rest) day.