Key result
During meditation, the proposed HRV indices related to vagal and sympathetic tones were significantly increased (p < 0.000005) and decreased (p < 0.000005), respectively, identifying parasympathetic activation and sympathetic inhibition.
Why the study?
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia can disrupt classical HRV analysis because its frequency depends on individual breathing speed, complicating autonomic nervous system assessment during meditation.
Observational (n=31)
p-value: p=<0.000005
May inform meditation-based autonomic interventions; leaves open validation in cardiovascular outcome trials.
We propose a single-lead ECG-based heart rate variability (HRV) analysis algorithm to quantify autonomic nervous system activity during meditation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) induced by breathing is a dominant component of HRV, but its frequency depends on an individual's breathing speed. To address this RSA issue, we designed a novel HRV tachogram decomposition algorithm and new HRV indices. The proposed method was validated by using a simulation, and applied to our experimental (mindfulness meditation) data and the WESAD open-source data. During meditation, our proposed HRV indices related to vagal and sympathetic tones were significantly increased (p < 0.000005) and decreased (p < 0.000005), respectively. These results were consistent with self-reports and experimental protocols, and identified parasympathetic activation and sympathetic inhibition during meditation. In conclusion, the proposed method successfully assessed autonomic nervous system activity during meditation when respiration influences disrupted classical HRV. The proposed method can be considered a reliable approach to quantify autonomic nervous system activity.
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Park et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Healthy subjects (n=31). Mindfulness meditation vs. Rest phase (baseline) was evaluated on Change in HRV indices related to vagal (IDXPNA) and sympathetic (IDXSNA) tones (p=<0.000005). During meditation, the proposed HRV indices related to vagal and sympathetic tones were significantly increased (p < 0.000005) and decreased (p < 0.000005), respectively, identifying parasympathetic activation and sympathetic inhibition.
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