Effects of exercises on biophoton emission of the wrist

Abstract

Using two photomultiplier tubes (PMT), we measured the biophoton emission of the left and right wrists simultaneously. The subjects performed hand-grip exercises with both hands, during the measurements. We found a slow increase of the emission rates during the exercises, rising in average from 51.6 cps (counts per second) to 72.3 cps and an immediate decrease after the ending of the exercises. Simultaneous measurement of the skin temperature near the wrist using a thermocouple showed steady increase of temperature even after the ending of the exercises. Thus we demonstrated manifestly that the biophoton has no correlation with body temperature changes. We proposed a hypothesis to account the increase of the biophoton due to muscular activity. The oxygen used by the respiratory chain is the main source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and therefore must be one of the biophoton sources. To flesh out this hypothesis we compared our data to heart beat rates and oxygen consumption values measured while doing the same type of exercises.