scholarly journals Relaxation or Regulation: The Acute Effect of Mind-Body Exercise on Heart Rate Variability and Subjective State in Experienced Qi Gong Practitioners

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Florens Goldbeck ◽  
Ye Lei Xie ◽  
Martin Hautzinger ◽  
Andreas J. Fallgatter ◽  
Gorden Sudeck ◽  
...  

Mind-body exercises such as Yoga or Qi Gong have demonstrated a wide range of health benefits and hold great promise for employment in clinical practice. However, the psychophysiological mechanism underlying these effects remains unclear. Theoretical frameworks highlight regulation as a characteristic and specific mechanism of mind-body exercise for which empirical evidence is scarce. To investigate the exact nature of this mechanism, we tracked acute changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and subjective state over a common form of mind-body exercise (Qi Gong). Heart rate variability (HRV) and subjective state were assessed in 42 Qi Gong practitioners from China and Germany during a standard moving Qi Gong exercise (Baduanjin). Relaxation in supine position prior and after the exercise served as a control condition to Qi Gong and to assess changes before and after the exercise. Following Qi Gong, all practitioners reported significantly increased subjective calmness and perceived body activation, attentional focus, and subjective vitality. On the physiological level, a significant decrease of parasympathetic modulation and increase in heart rate indicated a pattern of moderate general physiological activation during Qi Gong. A significant increase in overall RR-interval modulation and cardiac coherence during Qi Gong were indicative of a mechanism of active regulation. Examination of the RR-interval trajectories revealed a rhythmic pattern of ANS activation and deactivation in sync with activating and relaxing segments of the exercise. Significant changes in subjective state, not on the physiological level, before and after the exercise were observed. Significant associations between Qi-Gong-specific beliefs, age, cultural background, and experiential and physiological measures demonstrated the complexity of mind-body exercises as multicomponent interventions. Overall, this study highlights moderate general physiological activation, exercise-dependent rhythmic ANS modulation, and induction of a characteristic state of eutonic calmness as potential psychophysiological mechanisms underlying the health benefits of mind-body exercise.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1505
Author(s):  
Thi Phuoc Yen Tran ◽  
Philippe Pouliot ◽  
Elie Bou Bou Assi ◽  
Pierre Rainville ◽  
Kenneth A. Myers ◽  
...  

Background: We aimed to evaluate heart rate variability (HRV) changes in insulo-opercular epilepsy (IOE) and after insulo-opercular surgery. Methods: We analyzed 5-min resting HRV of IOE patients before and after surgery. Patients’ SUDEP-7 risk inventory scores were also calculated. Results were compared with age- and sex-matched patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and healthy individuals. Results: There were no differences in HRV measurements between IOE, TLE, and healthy control groups (and within each IOE group and TLE group) in preoperative and postoperative periods. In IOE patients, the SUDEP-7 score was positively correlated with pNN50 (percentage of successive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms) (p = 0.008) and RMSSD (root mean square of successive RR interval differences) (p = 0.019). We stratified IOE patients into those whose preoperative RMSSD values were below (Group 1a = 7) versus above (Group 1b = 9) a cut-off threshold of 31 ms (median value of a healthy population from a previous study). In group 1a, all HRV values significantly increased after surgery. In group 1b, time-domain parameters significantly decreased postoperatively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that in IOE, HRV may be either decreased in parasympathetic tone or increased globally in both sympathetic and parasympathetic tones. We found no evidence that insulo-opercular surgeries lead to major autonomic dysfunction when a good seizure outcome is reached. The increase in parasympathetic tone observed preoperatively may be of clinical concern, as it was positively correlated with the SUDEP-7 score.


2013 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Diveky ◽  
J. Prasko ◽  
M. Cerna ◽  
D. Kamaradova ◽  
A. Grambal ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Vinicius Amaral da Silva Souza ◽  
Carla Cristiane Santos Soares ◽  
Juliana Rega de Oliveira ◽  
Cláudia Rosa de Oliveira ◽  
Paloma Hargreaves Fialho ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Arundhati Goley ◽  
A. Mooventhan ◽  
NK. Manjunath

Abstract Background Hydrotherapeutic applications to the head and spine have shown to improve cardiovascular and autonomic functions. There is lack of study reporting the effect of either neutral spinal bath (NSB) or neutral spinal spray (NSS). Hence, the present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of both NSB and NSS in healthy volunteers. Methods Thirty healthy subjects were recruited and randomized into either neutral spinal bath group (NSBG) or neutral spinal spray group (NSSG). A single session of NSB, NSS was given for 15 min to the NSBG and NSSG, respectively. Assessments were taken before and after the interventions. Results Results of this study showed a significant reduction in low-frequency (LF) to high-frequency (HF) (LF/HF) ratio of heart rate variability (HRV) spectrum in NSBG compared with NSSG (p=0.026). Within-group analysis of both NSBG and NSSG showed a significant increase in the mean of the intervals between adjacent QRS complexes or the instantaneous heart rate (HR) (RRI) (p=0.002; p=0.009, respectively), along with a significant reduction in HR (p=0.002; p=0.004, respectively). But, a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) (p=0.037) and pulse pressure (PP) (p=0.017) was observed in NSSG, while a significant reduction in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p=0.008), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) (p=0.008) and LF/HF ratio (p=0.041) was observed in NSBG. Conclusion Results of the study suggest that 15 min of both NSB and NSS might be effective in reducing HR and improving HRV. However, NSS is particularly effective in reducing SBP and PP, while NSB is particularly effective in reducing DBP and MAP along with improving sympathovagal balance in healthy volunteers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e294101119781
Author(s):  
Antonio Gomes da Silva Neto ◽  
Daniel Souza Ferreira Magalhães ◽  
Raduan Hage ◽  
Laurita dos Santos ◽  
José Carlos Cogo

The assessment of heart rate variability (HRV) by linear methods in conjunction with Poincaré plots can be useful for evaluating cardiac regulation by the autonomic nervous system and for the diagnosis and prognosis of heart disease in snakes. In this report, we describe an analysis of HRV in conscious adult corn snakes Pantherophis guttatus (P. guttatus).  The electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters were determined in adult corn snakes (8 females, 13 males) and used for HRV analysis, and the RR interval was analyzed by linear methods in the time and frequency domains. There was no sex-related difference in heart rate. However, significant differences were seen in the duration of the P, PR, and T waves and QRS complex; there was no difference in the QT interval. The values for the RR interval varied by 15.3% and 18.8% in male and female snakes, respectively, and there was considerable variation in the values for the high and low frequency domains. The changes in the time domain were attributed to regulation by the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, in agreement with variations in the high and low frequency domains. The values for standard deviations 1 and 2 in Poincaré plots, as well as the values of the frequency domain, provide useful parameters for future studies of cardiac function in P. guttatus.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandya Subramanian ◽  
Patrick L. Purdon ◽  
Riccardo Barbieri ◽  
Emery N. Brown

ABSTRACTDuring general anesthesia, both behavioral and autonomic changes are caused by the administration of anesthetics such as propofol. Propofol produces unconsciousness by creating highly structured oscillations in brain circuits. The anesthetic also has autonomic effects due to its actions as a vasodilator and myocardial depressant. Understanding how autonomic dynamics change in relation to propofol-induced unconsciousness is an important scientific and clinical question since anesthesiologists often infer changes in level of unconsciousness from changes in autonomic dynamics. Therefore, we present a framework combining physiology-based statistical models that have been developed specifically for heart rate variability and electrodermal activity with a robust statistical tool to compare behavioral and multimodal autonomic changes before, during, and after propofol-induced unconsciousness. We tested this framework on physiological data recorded from nine healthy volunteers during computer-controlled administration of propofol. We studied how autonomic dynamics related to behavioral markers of unconsciousness: 1) overall, 2) during the transitions of loss and recovery of consciousness, and 3) before and after anesthesia as a whole. Our results show a strong relationship between behavioral state of consciousness and autonomic dynamics. All of our prediction models showed areas under the curve greater than 0.75 despite the presence of non-monotonic relationships among the variables during the transition periods. Our analysis highlighted the specific roles played by fast versus slow changes, parasympathetic vs sympathetic activity, heart rate variability vs electrodermal activity, and even pulse rate vs pulse amplitude information within electrodermal activity. Further advancement upon this work can quantify the complex and subject-specific relationship between behavioral changes and autonomic dynamics before, during, and after anesthesia. However, this work demonstrates the potential of a multimodal, physiologically-informed, statistical approach to characterize autonomic dynamics.


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