scholarly journals Heart Rate Variability and Electrodermal Activity as Noninvasive Indices of Sympathovagal Balance in Response to Stress

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Visnovcova ◽  
A. Calkovska ◽  
I. Tonhajzerova

Abstract The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a principal regulatory system for maintaining homeostasis, adaptability and physiological flexibility of the organism at rest as well as in response to stress. In the aspect of autonomic regulatory inputs on the cardiovascular system, recent research is focused on the study of exaggerated/diminished cardiovascular reactivity in response to mental stress as a risk factor for health complications, e.g. hypertension. Thus, the analysis of biological signals reflecting a physiological shift in sympathovagal balance during stress in the manner of vagal withdrawal associated with sympathetic overactivity is important. The heart rate variability, i.e. “beat-to-beat” oscillations of heart rate around its mean value, reflects mainly complex neurocardiac parasympathetic control. The electrodermal activity could represent “antagonistic” sympathetic activity, the so-called “sympathetic arousal” in response to stress. The detailed study of the physiological parameters under various stressful stimuli and in recovery phase using traditional and novel mathematical analyses could reveal discrete alterations in sympathovagal balance. This article summarizes the importance of heart rate variability and electrodermal activity assessment as the potential noninvasive indices indicating autonomic nervous system activity in response to mental stress.

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 2619 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hernando ◽  
Surya Roca ◽  
Jorge Sancho ◽  
Álvaro Alesanco ◽  
Raquel Bailón

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a noninvasive tool widely used to assess autonomic nervous system state. The market for wearable devices that measure the heart rate has grown exponentially, as well as their potential use for healthcare and wellbeing applications. Still, there is a lack of validation of these devices. In particular, this work aims to validate the Apple Watch in terms of HRV derived from the RR interval series provided by the device, both in temporal (HRM (mean heart rate), SDNN, RMSSD and pNN50) and frequency (low and high frequency powers, LF and HF) domain. For this purpose, a database of 20 healthy volunteers subjected to relax and a mild cognitive stress was used. First, RR interval series provided by Apple Watch were validated using as reference the RR interval series provided by a Polar H7 using Bland-Altman plots and reliability and agreement coefficients. Then, HRV parameters derived from both RR interval series were compared and their ability to identify autonomic nervous system (ANS) response to mild cognitive stress was studied. Apple Watch measurements presented very good reliability and agreement (>0.9). RR interval series provided by Apple Watch contain gaps due to missing RR interval values (on average, 5 gaps per recording, lasting 6.5 s per gap). Temporal HRV indices were not significantly affected by the gaps. However, they produced a significant decrease in the LF and HF power. Despite these differences, HRV indices derived from the Apple Watch RR interval series were able to reflect changes induced by a mild mental stress, showing a significant decrease of HF power as well as RMSSD in stress with respect to relax, suggesting the potential use of HRV measurements derived from Apple Watch for stress monitoring.


2017 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 1055-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soafara Andrianome ◽  
Jonathan Gobert ◽  
Laurent Hugueville ◽  
Erwan Stéphan-Blanchard ◽  
Frederic Telliez ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was twofold: first, to compare the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) between the population self-declared as electrohypersensitive (EHS) and their matched control individuals without intended exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF). The second objective was to determine whether acute exposure to different radiofrequency signals modifies ANS activity in EHS. For that purpose, two different experiments were undertaken, in which ANS activity was assessed through heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance (SC). In the first experiment, a comparison between the EHS group ( n = 30) and the control group ( n = 25) showed that the EHS has an increased number of responses to auditory stimuli as measured by skin conductance activity, and that none of the short-term heart rate variability parameters differ between the two matched study groups. The second experiment, performed in a shielded chamber, involved 10 EHS from the first experiment. The volunteers participated in two different sessions (sham and exposure). The participants were consecutively exposed to four EMF signals (GSM 900, GSM 1800, DECT, and Wi-Fi) at environmental level (1 V/m). The experiment was double blinded and counterbalanced. The HRV variables studied did not differ between the two sessions. Concerning electrodermal activity, the data issued from skin conductance and tonic activity did not differ between the sessions, but showed a time variability. In conclusion, the HRV and SC profiles did not significantly differ between the EHS and control populations under no exposure. Exposure did not have an effect on the ANS parameters we have explored. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study provided analysis on the skin conductance parameters using a newly developed method (peak/min, extraction of skin conductance responses) that had not been performed previously. Additionally, the skin conductance signal was decomposed, considering tonic and phasic activities to be a distinct compound. Moreover, this is the first time a study has been designed into two steps to understand whether the autonomic nervous system is disturbed in the EHS population.


2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 498
Author(s):  
Alyssa Conte Da Silva ◽  
Juliana Falcão Padilha ◽  
Jefferson Luiz Brum Marques ◽  
Cláudia Mirian De Godoy Marques

Introdução: Existem poucos estudos que evidenciam a manipulação vertebral relacionada à modulação autonômica cardíaca. Objetivo: Revisar a literatura sobre os efeitos da manipulação vertebral sobre a modulação autonômica cardíaca. Métodos: Foi realizada uma busca bibliográfica nas bases de dados da saúde Medline, Pubmed e Cinahl, no período correspondido entre setembro e novembro de 2014. Foram utilizados os descritores em inglês Spinal Manipulation, Cardiac Autonomic Modulation, Autonomic Nervous System, Heart Rate Variability, além de associações entre eles. Resultados: Foram encontrados 190 artigos, sendo excluídos 39 por serem repetidos, restando 151. Destes, 124 não se encaixaram nos critérios de inclusão e após leitura crítica e análise dos materiais foram selecionados 7 artigos. Grande parte dos estudos revelou que a manipulação da coluna, independente do segmento, demonstra alterações autonômicas, tanto em nível simpático quanto parassimpático. Conclusão: Existem diferentes metodologias para avaliação da modulação autonômica cardíaca, sendo a Variabilidade da Frequência cardíaca através do eletrocardiograma a mais utilizada. A manipulação vertebral exerceu influência, na maioria dos artigos, sobre a modulação autonômica cardíaca.Palavras-chave: manipulação da coluna, sistema nervoso autônomo, variabilidade da frequência cardíaca. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Henrique de Oliveira Mondoni ◽  
Luiz Carlos Marques Vanderlei ◽  
Bruno Saraiva ◽  
Franciele Marques Vanderlei

AbstractIntroduction It is known that physical exercise is beneficial and precipitates adjustments to the autonomic nervous system. However, the effect of exercise on cardiac autonomic modulation in children, despite its importance, is poorly investigated.Objective To bring together current information about the effects of exercise on heart rate variability in healthy and obese children.Methods The literature update was performed through a search for articles in the following databases; PubMed, PEDro, SciELO and Lilacs, using the descriptors “exercise” and “child” in conjunction with the descriptors “autonomic nervous system”, “sympathetic nervous system”, “parasympathetic nervous system” and also with no descriptor, but the key word of this study, “heart rate variability”, from January 2005 to December 2012.Results After removal of items that did not fit the subject of the study, a total of 9 articles were selected, 5 with healthy and 4 with obese children.Conclusion The findings suggest that exercise can act in the normalization of existing alterations in the autonomic nervous system of obese children, as well as serve as a preventative factor in healthy children, enabling healthy development of the autonomic nervous system until the child reaches adulthood.


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hae Ok Jung ◽  
Ki Bae Seung ◽  
Hyo Young Lim ◽  
Dong Heon Kang ◽  
Ki Yuk Chang ◽  
...  

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.


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