THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LEVEL OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO STRESS AND THE ADAPTIVE POTENTIAL OF MEDICAL STUDENTS
Stress negatively affects the psyche and physical health of a person, causing depletion of adaptive potential. Students at a medical university are no exception. Preventing the impact of stress at the learning stage among students can improve the quality of care provided in the future. The study involved 69 third-year students of VSMU named after N. N. Burdenko. All students were surveyed on the Psychophysiological Stress Response Assessment Scale and the Boston Stress Tolerance Test and were measured for blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, height and weight. Based on the data obtained, the Kerdo index, endurance coefficient, heart stroke volume, pulse pressure, and Hildebrandt index were calculated. All participants of the study were divided into three groups depending on the number of points scored on the Scale of assessment of the severity of the psychophysiological reaction to stress. It was revealed that in groups II and III, which included students with a small or high probability of predisposition to the development of diseases, the greatest deviations from the norm of the calculated indices of adaptive potential were determined: an increase in the Kerdo index associated with sympathicotonia, a deterioration in the indicators of endurance coefficient, pulse pressure, heart stroke volume and Hildebrandt index. It can be assumed that an increase in sympathetic influences from the autonomic nervous system can predispose to the development of pathology from the cardiovascular system, reduce stress resistance and adaptive potential.