Editorial: Cardio-respiratory-brain integrative physiology: interactions, mechanisms, and methods for assessment

The discipline of cardio-respiratory-brain integrative physiology investigates the complex interactions among the heart, lungs, and brain, emphasizing how these systems work together to sustain overall stability and balance within the body. The cardiorespiratory coupling was studied in some recent studies (Schulz et al. (2013); Acampa et al. (2021); Kapidžić et al. (2014)), including the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (Hirsch and Bishop (1981)), cardiorespiratory phase synchronization (Schäfer et al. (1998)) and coupling functions (Iatsenko (Bernjak); Lukarski et al. (2020)). These coupling forms are primarily regulated by the brain, which is the core node of the well-known functional brain-heart interplay Candia-Rivera et al. (2025) and mediates interactions with the lungs through the respiratory centers Faes et al. (2015); Stankovski et al. (2016) (Fig. 1). Interactions among the cardiac, respiratory, and brain systems are essential for understanding the central-autonomic network, which regulates the balance between parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous activity to adapt to different physiological and environmental challenges. Although progress has been made, gaps still exist in fully understanding the exact mechanisms and pathways driving these interactions, especially in disease states where imbalances can result in negative health effects. Recent research efforts are increasingly employing sophisticated signal processing and neuroimaging methods 1. Physiological network for the brain-heart-lungs interactions.to explore these complex dynamics, but a complete understanding of the integrated physiology of these 20 systems is still evolving.The research topic aim was to enhance the understanding of cardio-respiratory-brain interactions by