Exploring the Impact of CM-II Meditation on Stress Levels in College Students through HRV Analysis

The demanding nature of engineering education often leads to high stress levels among students, which can impede learning and performance. There is a growing body of literature on how meditation can help reduce stress among engineering students. Meditation, recognized for its stress-alleviating properties, has been shown to lower cortisol levels, improve autonomic balance, reduce sympathetic nervous system activity, and enhance immune function through heart rate variability (HRV) metrics. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of ChakraMarmaKosha meditation (CM-II) on stress reduction among college students. An experiment of 15 students was conducted in a lab setting in which we measured the heart pulse data before, during, and after meditation sessions with a wired earphone-like device. From this, we calculated HRV metrics such as heart rate, Heart Coherence (HC), Standard Deviation of NN intervals (SDNN), Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD), Baevsky Stress Index (BSI), and the Low Frequency/High-Frequency ratio (LF/HF ratio) to analyze stress. The results indicated a harmonizing effect on student hearts especially during the meditation. Moving ahead, we would develop a web application for wireless heart pulse data measurement, that facilitates a broader reach of real-time stress monitoring and management in student activities.