caa a22 4500 555285324 20200410031630.0 cr unu---uuuuu 190206e20180830xx s 000 0 eng 1932-6203 10.1371/journal.pone.0202659 doi (BORIS)oai:boris.unibe.ch:124810 610 ddc 30161153 pmid Fleckenstein Johannes Effects of single-point acupuncture (HT7) in the prevention of test anxiety: Results of a RCT [Elektronische Daten] [Johannes Fleckenstein, Peter Krüger, Karl-Peter Ittner] publishedVersion openAccess eu-repo BACKGROUND The number of students using neuro enhancement to improve their performance and to prevent test anxiety is increasing. The acupuncture point Heart 7 (HT7) has been described as being prominent in reducing states of anxiety. METHODS We conducted a randomized placebo-controlled, two-armed pilot trial to investigate the efficacy of a single-point acupuncture treatment at bilateral HT7 compared to sham laser acupuncture on test anxiety. Test anxiety was induced applying the standardised protocol of the Trier Social Stress Test. Outcome measures included saliva samples analysed for cortisol and amylase, anxiety questionnaires and heart rate variability. RESULTS Twenty-five male subjects (age 28 ± 5 years) were allocated to either verum acupuncture (n = 12) or sham laser acupuncture (n = 13). Cortisol peaked 20 min after the stress test (2-fold, 18.11 ± 2 nmol/l) and amylase 10 min after (2-fold, 259 ± 49 U/ml) with no difference between groups. There were no differences between groups regarding either anxiety questionnaires or physiological parameters. Compared to reference data (3-fold increase in cortisol), increase in stress hormones and heart rate seemed somewhat reduced. CONCLUSIONS Acupuncture may be a possible approach for the treatment of anxiety. Due to the lack of a no control treatment group, we cannot determine the magnitude of possible specific needle effects at HT7 to promote specific effects in the neuroendocrine system. Finally this study only examines the efficacy of a single time treatment. Krüger Peter joint author Ittner Karl-Peter joint author PLoS ONE 13(8), e0202659 1932-6203 https://boris.unibe.ch/124810/1/pone.0202659.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository 1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article boris PeerReviewed boris peerstatus BORIS 856 40 https://boris.unibe.ch/124810/1/pone.0202659.pdf text/html WWW-Backlink auf das Repository BORIS 100 1- Fleckenstein Johannes BORIS 700 1- Krüger Peter joint author BORIS 700 1- Ittner Karl-Peter joint author BORIS 773 0- PLoS ONE 13(8), e0202659 1932-6203 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 BORIS BORIS BORIS info:eu-repo/semantics/article openAccess