Why the study?
The study was designed to identify changes in the autonomic nervous system induced by acupuncture at the field of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve.
Does acupuncture at the field of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve improve autonomic nervous system balance measured by HRV in healthy adults after mental stress?
Does acupuncture at the field of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve improve autonomic nervous system balance measured by HRV in healthy adults after mental stress?
Acupuncture at the auricular branch of the vagus nerve may increase parasympathetic activity and help regulate the autonomic nervous system after mental stress.
May support auricular vagus acupuncture for post-stress autonomic recovery; extends HRV evidence for targeted vagal modulation in healthy adults.
Objectives This study was designed to identify the changes of autonomic nervous system (ANS) which was induced by acupuncture at the field of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. Methods 30 healthy adults were selected and classified into two groups; experimental group, control group. After providing mental stress, acupuncture was applied at external ear in experimental group and no treatment executed in control group. The evaluation of ANS function was measured by heart rate variability (HRV). We statically analyzed the difference of HRV parameters which include mean heart rate (MHRT), standard deviation of all N-N intervals (SDNN), square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent N-N intervals (RMSSD), total power (TP), low frequency power (LF), high frequency power (HF), LF/HF ratio. Results All subjects showed significant increase in SDNN, LF after stress stimulation (p<0.05). Immediately after intervention, MHRT was significantly decreased (p<0.001) and RMSSD, HF were significantly increased in experimental group (p<0.05). After the end of intervention, SDNN, HF, RMSSD, TP, LF were significantly increased in experimental group (p<0.01, p<0.05). And when comparing baseline HRV, SDNN, LF were significantly increased in control group (p<0.01) and SDNN, RMSSD, TP, LF were significantly increased in experimental group (p<0.05). In the subgroup analysis, normal balance of ANS group showed significant increase in TP, LF, SDNN, HF (p<0.01, p<0.05). Conclusions We suggested that acupuncture at external ear, region of the vagus nerve distribution could increase parasympathetic activity and cause changes and reregulation of the ANS. (
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An et al. (2021) studied this question.
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