Effects of Mentha Piperita Essential Oil Uptake
or Inhalation on Heart Rate Variability and
Cardiopulmonary Regulation during Exercise

Tso-Yen Mao; Chun-Feng Huang; De-Yen Liu; Chien-Ting Chen; Chin-Cheng Yang

Tso-Yen Mao¹, Chun-Feng Huang^1,2, De-Yen Liu^3,4, Chien-Ting Chen⁵, Chin-Cheng Yang^1,6

¹Chaoyang University of Technology, Department of Leisure Services Management, Taichung, Taiwan (R.O.C)
²National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Hospital, Department of Family Medicine, Yilan, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
³St. Mary's Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Department of Health and Leisure Management, Yilan, Taiwan (R.O.C)
⁴National Taiwan Normal University, Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C)
⁵Chung Yuan Christian University, Office of Physical Education, Taoyuan, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
⁶National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Technological and Vocational Education, Yunlin, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

Effects of Mentha Piperita Essential Oil Uptake or Inhalation on Heart Rate Variability and Cardiopulmonary Regulation during Exercise

Monten. J. Sports Sci. Med. 2021, 10(2), 65-72 | DOI: 10.26773/mjssm.210910

Abstract

This study compares the effects of the uptake or inhalation of 50uL Mentha piperita (MP) essential oil for 10 days on heart rate variability (HRV) and cardiopulmonary regulation during various exercise intensities. Forty-eight healthy male subjects were randomly assigned to MP uptake (MPU; n=16), MP inhalation (MPI; n=16), and control group (C; n=16). All participants were measured resting HRV, respiratory, cardiovascular, and metabolic parameters during aerobic, anaero- bic, and graded exercise tests (GXT) before and after treatment. There were significant increases in the low-frequency area (LFa; 1.8±0.1 vs 2.2±0.2 ms²), the ratio of low frequency to respiration frequency area (LFa/RFa; 0.9±0.1 vs 1.3±0.1) at resting and carbon dioxide production (VCO 2 ; 41.2±4.0 vs 49.2±6.8 mL/min -1 /kg -1 ), ventilation per minute (V E ; 80.2±4.3 vs 97.5±5.5 L/min -1 ), and respiratory rate (RR; 38.2±1.9 to 44.3±2.1 breath/min -1 ) in an anaerobic test following MPU inter- vention. In GXT, maximal carbon dioxide production (VCO 2max; 51.9±3.5 to 59.1±6.4 mL/min -1 /kg -1 ), maximal ventilation per minute (V Emax ; 126.4±6.5 to 138.4±5.4 L/min -1 ) and maximal respiratory rate (RR max ; 52.7±3.6 to 60.1±2.3 breath/min -1 ) significantly increased in MPU. The correlations of ΔLFa with ΔVCO 2max , ΔV Emax , and ΔRR max in the MPU group were signifi- cant. Continuous uptake or inhalation of 50uL MP oil for 10 days does not improve aerobic capacity and maximal exercise performance, but 10 days’ uptake of MP essential oil increased sympathetic activity at rest and may relate to respiratory regulation under high-intensity exercise.

Keywords

essential oil, ergogenic aids, aromatherapy, ventilation threshold, carbon dioxide

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