JP2505073B2 - Refresh device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mainly relates to a refreshing device for eliminating a feeling of mental fatigue, and is used for recovering fatigue from a worker working late at night or an irregular worker.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the skin electric resistance of a user is measured,
A device that controls the stimulus given to the user according to the measurement result has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application No. 02-289263). In addition to the skin electric resistance of the user, a method of analyzing an electrocardiogram is also known as a means for knowing the arousal level of the user. That is, in general, when spectrum analysis is performed on the time series of the R wave and the R wave interval (RR interval) of the electrocardiogram,
Respiratory fluctuations around 0.3 Hz and blood pressure fluctuations around 0.1 Hz show that the former reflects the activity of the parasympathetic nerves of the autonomic nervous system, and the latter reflects the activity of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. Are known.

[0003]

In the conventional refreshing device, there are considerable individual differences in changes in skin electrical resistance, and even within the same individual, there are large errors due to ambient humidity, etc. There is a problem that it is difficult to perform appropriate control corresponding to the state. Furthermore, in order to measure the electric resistance of the skin, it is necessary to attach an electrode to the skin surface, and there is a problem that the user is greatly invaded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to measure the electrocardiogram or respiration of the user and determine the mental state of the user based on the measurement result. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refreshing device capable of performing control with high accuracy.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the refreshing device of the present invention is, as shown in FIG. 1, a measuring means 1 for measuring at least one of electrocardiogram and respiration of a user, Relax guide means 3 that gives a stimulus that leads the user to a relaxed state, and refresh guide means 4 that gives a stimulus that raises the user's consciousness level.
And a control means 2 for changing the stimulus of the relax guiding means 3 based on the measurement result of the measuring means 1 and for activating the relax guiding means 3 and then activating the refresh guiding means 4. Is.

The measuring means 1 for measuring the electrocardiogram of the user
Is preferably a means for measuring at least one of electrocardiogram and respiration from the output of a capacitance sensor installed near the user.

[0007]

In general, when the living body relaxes, the heart rate and the respiration rate decrease, so it is possible to estimate the mental state by measuring the electrocardiogram and respiration of the living body. The present invention utilizes this principle. The measuring means 1 measures at least one of the electrocardiogram and respiration of the user, and the control means 2 controls the relax guide means 3 based on the measurement result. The person is controlled to give a stimulus that leads to a relaxed state. Then, after activating the relax guiding means 3, the refresh guiding means 4
By operating the, the user's fatigue recovery effect is enhanced.

Further, by measuring the electrocardiogram or respiration of the user from the output of the capacitance sensor installed near the user, the electrocardiogram or respiration of the user can be obtained in a non-contact manner. Therefore, the user does not have to be aware of the measuring means 1, and the relaxing effect can be enhanced.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The basic structure of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the figure, 1 is a measuring means, which measures the electrocardiogram or respiration of the user. The measuring means 1 is composed of, for example, an electrocardiographic sensor, and measures an electrocardiographic RR interval. Reference numeral 2 denotes a control means, which determines the awakening degree of the user based on the measured electrocardiogram and controls the refreshing device. The control unit 2 stores the electrocardiographic R-R intervals measured by the measuring unit 1 in time series, and the stored electrocardiographic R intervals.
FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) means for frequency-analyzing the fluctuation spectrum of the −R interval, and 0.
Based on the means of measuring the power around 1 Hz and the power around 0.3 Hz to quantify the activity states of the sympathetic nerve and the parasympathetic nerve respectively, and the arousal level of the body or And a refreshing device that controls the parasympathetic nerve activity to be higher than the sympathetic nerve activity. 3 is a relaxation inducing means, which mainly gives a stimulus by vibration. Reference numeral 4 is a refresh induction means, which mainly gives stimulation by light, aroma and air flow.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the refresh device of the present invention. In the figure, 5 is a relaxing / refreshing room with shading and sound insulation.
The user can be stimulated by vibration, sound, light, fragrance and air flow. The relax / refresh room 5 is provided with a reclining chair 6 on which a user is seated, and the ceiling surface of the relax / refresh room 5 is provided with a lighting device 7 capable of adjusting the illuminance. For the user M who is seated in the reclining chair 6 in the relaxation / refresh room 5, the relaxation guiding means 3 operates to relieve the tension of the user,
After that, the refresh guide means 4 is activated to raise the user's consciousness level. The relaxation inducing means 3 is configured to give a stimulation to the user M mainly by vibration, and the refreshing stimulation means 4 is configured to give a stimulation to the user M mainly by light, aroma and air flow.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.
First, in the relaxation period, the user M sits in the reclining chair 6 and operates a start switch (not shown). As a result, the backrest of the reclining chair 6 falls, the light emission output of the lighting device 7 gradually decreases, the relaxing / refreshing room 5 becomes dark, and the user M
A vibration stimulus is applied to. The frequency and amplitude of the vibrator 8 are
The vibration control units provided in the control means 2 control the vibrations separately. The frequency of each exciter 8 is controlled so as to change according to the 1 / f fluctuation. Also, the amplitude is controlled based on the mental state of the user. Since the heart rate, the respiratory rate, and the activity of the autonomic nerve change depending on the degree of relaxation of the user, the electrocardiographic sensor 9 detects an electrocardiogram and feedback control is performed to determine the degree of relaxation of the user. It is possible to give the user vibration of a corresponding amplitude.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the electrocardiogram is directly measured by the electrocardiographic sensor 9. However, as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the reclining chair 6 is provided with two lead wires whose ends are open. The electrostatic capacity sensor 10 is provided, the electrocardiogram and the respiration are detected in a non-contact manner from the electrostatic capacity between the lead wires, the degree of relaxation of the user is detected, and the amplitude according to the detection result is detected. Vibration can also be applied to the user.

FIG. 4 shows a time series of RR intervals of electrocardiography as an example. A power spectrum obtained by frequency analysis of this is shown in FIG. RSA (respiratory fluctuation) around 0.3 Hz reflects the activity state of parasympathetic nerve, and 0.1 Hz
The anterior-posterior MWSA (blood pressure fluctuation) reflects the activity status of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. In this embodiment, the blood pressure fluctuation component MWSA is divided by the respiratory fluctuation component RSA to estimate the activity of the sympathetic nerve, and this is used as the arousal level. Alternatively, the difference between the activity of the sympathetic nerve and the activity of the parasympathetic nerve is calculated and used as the arousal level.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual explanatory view of respiratory fluctuation and blood pressure fluctuation. As is clear from this figure, the heartbeat pacemaker, which determines the heartbeat cycle, is under dual control of the sympathetic nerve (cardiac sympathetic nerve) and the parasympathetic nerve (cardiac vagus nerve), which have opposite effects, and the balance between the two It is controlled by the state. For the heart, the sympathetic nerve has a promoting action and the parasympathetic nerve has a blocking action. For the bronchial muscle, the sympathetic nerve has a relaxing action and the parasympathetic nerve has a contracting action. For blood vessels, the sympathetic nerve has a contracting action and raises blood pressure, and the parasympathetic nerve has a dilating action and lowers blood pressure. Therefore, the fluctuation of the heartbeat has a constant relationship with the respiratory fluctuation and the blood pressure fluctuation, and by analyzing the power spectrum of the fluctuation of the RR interval of the heartbeat, it is possible to know the tension of the sympathetic nerve and the parasympathetic nerve. it can. Generally, the sympathetic nerve works to increase the physical activity of the body, while the parasympathetic nerve works to recover the fatigue of the body. Therefore, the arousal level of the body can be known by knowing the activity states of the sympathetic nerve and the parasympathetic nerve.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, at least one of the user's electrocardiogram and respiration is measured, and the stimulus for relaxing the user is controlled according to the measurement result. Compared with the conventional technique of measuring the electrical resistance of the skin, there is no room for error due to humidity, etc., and there is an effect that highly accurate control is possible, and it is possible to give an optimal stimulus according to the mental state of the user. Therefore, there is an effect that the user can be sufficiently relaxed, and then the user's fatigue recovery effect can be enhanced by giving a stimulus for refreshing the user.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, at least one of the electrocardiogram and respiration of the user is measured from the output of the capacitance sensor installed near the user.
The mental state of the user can be determined in a non-contact manner, and therefore, there is an effect that there is less possibility of disturbing the relaxing effect of the relaxing guiding means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a time series transition of an RR interval of an electrocardiogram.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a variation spectrum of an electrocardiographic RR interval.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing the relationship between heart rate variability, respiratory variability, and blood pressure variability.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Measuring Means 2 Controlling Means 3 Relaxing Guidance Means 4 Refresh Guidance Means

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A measuring means for measuring at least one of a user's electrocardiogram and respiration, a relaxing inducing means for giving a stimulus for leading the user to a relaxed state, and a stimulus for raising the user's consciousness level. A refreshing device comprising: a refresh guide means for giving a refresh guide means; and a control means for changing the stimulus of the relax guide means based on the measurement result of the measuring means, and for activating the relax guide means and then activating the refresh guide means . 2. The measuring means for measuring the electrocardiogram of a user,
2. The refreshing device according to claim 1, which is a means for measuring at least one of electrocardiogram and respiration from the output of a capacitance sensor installed near the user.