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Keyword: Science HRV & Coherence

Following the Rhythm of the Heart: HeartMath Institute’s Path to HRV Biofeedback

Published on: 13-10-2022

This paper outlines the early history and contributions our laboratory, along with our close advisors and collaborators, has made to the field of heart rate variability and heart rate variability coherence biofeedback. In addition to the many health and wellness benefits of HRV feedback for facilitating skill acquisition of self-regulation techniques for stress reduction and performance enhancement, its applications for increasing social coherence and physiological synchronization among groups is also discussed. Future research directions and applications are also suggested.

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The effect of HRVB training on young soccer players' skill performance

Published on: 23-08-2021

ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) training on selected soccer skills performance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of HRVB on soccer players’ reactive motor skill test (RMST), sprint time, reactive agility, passing time, and passing accuracy. Participants of this study were Malaysian high school soccer players (n = 32), with mean age of 15.21 ± 1.85, who were assigned randomly into two groups: Experimental groups and control group. Each group had 16

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Heart rate variability biofeedback in chronic disease management: A systematic review

Background: Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) is a non-pharmacological intervention used in the management of chronic diseases.
Method: A systematic search was performed according to eligibility criteria including adult chronic patients, HRVB as main treatment with or without control conditions, and psychophysiological outcomes as dependent variables.
Results: In total, 29 articles were included. Reported results showed the feasibility of HRVB in chronic patients without adverse effects.

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One-Minute Deep Breathing Assessment and its Relationship to 24-h Heart Rate Variability Measurements

Published on: 13-04-2021

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV), the change in the time intervals between successive pairs of heartbeats, is influenced by interdependent regulatory systems operating over different time scales to adapt to psychological challenges and environmental demands. Low ageadjusted HRV is predictive of upcoming health challenges in healthy people as well as a wide range of diseases in patients and correlates with allcause mortality. 24h HRV recordings are considered the “gold standard” and have greater predictive power on health risk

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Comparative study of the impact of active meditation protocol and silence meditation on heart rate variability and mood in women

Aim: The aim of this study was to understand the impact of an active meditation protocol on heart rate variability (HRV) and mood in women as compared to breath-focused silence meditation. Materials and Methods: Women experienced two different practices of 20 min each: (a) control group: silence meditation focusing on breath and (b) experiment group: active meditation that included four activities, each lasting for 5 minutes – (1) simple humming, (2) coherent heart-focused breathing with 5s of inhalation and 5s of exhalation, (3) coherent

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Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Improves Emotional and Physical Health and Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis

We performed a systematic and meta analytic review of heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) for various symptoms and human functioning. We analyzed all problems addressed by HRVB and all outcome measures in all studies, whether or not relevant to the studied population, among randomly controlled studies. Targets included various biological and psy-chological problems and issues with athletic, cognitive, and artistic performance. Our initial review yielded 1868 papers, from which 58 met inclusion criteria. A significant small to moderate effect size was found favoring HRVB, which does not differ from that of other effective treatments. With

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Heart Rate Variability, Health and Well-Being: A Systems Perspective

The development of a new tool, analytic device, or approach frequently facilitates rapid growth in scientific understanding, although the process is seldom linear. The study of heart rate variability (HRV) defined as the extent to which beat-to-beat variation in heart rate varies, is a rapidly maturing paradigm that integrates health and wellness observations across a wide variety of biomedical and psychosocial phenomena and illustrates this nonlinear path of development. The utility of HRV as an analytic and interventive technique goes far beyond its original application as a robust predictor of sudden cardiac death. This Research Topic aims to provide a conceptual

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Heart Rate Variability: New Perspectives on Assessment of Stress and Health Risk at the Workplace

Published on: 04-02-2019

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are the highest cause of death in the world. Many of these deaths may be workplace related. Long hours at work seem to be influencing the increased risks of heart diseases. Workplace stress can be defined as the “discrepancies between the physiological demands within a workplace and the inability of employees to either manage or cope with such work demands.” The varied nature and perception of stress are exemplified from literature that shows stress being either a stimulus, or a response, or a stimulus–

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Exploring a 1-Minute Paced Deep-Breathing Measurement of Heart Rate Variability as Part of a Workers' Health Assessment

Published on: 01-12-2018

Low heart rate variability (HRV) is related to health problems that are known reasons for sick-leave or early retirement. A 1-minute-protocol could allow large scale HRV measurement for screening of health problems and, potentially, sustained employability. Our objectives were to explore the association of HRV with measures of health. Cross-sectional design with 877 Dutch employees assessed during a Workers’ Health Assessment. Personal and job characteristics, workability, psychological and mental problems, and lifestyle were measured with questionnaires. Biometry was measured (BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol). HRV was assessed with a 1-minute paced deep-breathing protocol and expressed as mean heart rate range (MHRR). A low MHRR indicates a higher health risk.

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An Overview of HRV Norms and Metrics

Published on: 28-09-2017

Healthy biological systems exhibit complex patterns of variability that can be described by mathematical chaos. Heart rate variability (HRV) consists of changes in the time intervals between consecutive heartbeats called interbeat intervals (IBIs). A healthy heart is not a metronome. The oscillations of a healthy heart are complex and constantly changing, which allow the cardiovascular system to rapidly adjust to sudden physical and psycho-logical  challenges  to  homeostasis.  This  article  briefly  reviews  current  perspectives  on  the mechanisms that generate 24 h, short-term (~5 min), and ultra-short-term (<5 min) HRV,  the  importance  of  HRV,  and  its  implications 

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Validity of (Ultra-)Short Recordings for Heart Rate Variability Measurements

Published on: 28-09-2015

Objectives
In order to investigate the applicability of routine 10s electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings for time-domain heart rate variability (HRV) calculation we explored to what extent these (ultra-)short recordings capture the “actual” HRV.

Methods
The standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) were measured in 3,387 adults. SDNN and RMSSD were assessed from (ultra)short recordings of 10s(3x), 30s, and 120s and compared to 240s–300s (gold

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Heart Rate Variability: New Perspectives on Physiological Mechanisms, Assessment of Self-regulatory Capacity, and Health Risk

Published on: 15-01-2015

Heart  rate  variability,  the  change  in the  time  intervals  between  adjacent heartbeats, is an emergent property of interdependent   regulatory   systems that  operates  on  different  time  scales to  adapt  to  environmental  and  psychological   challenges.   This   article briefly  reviews  neural  regulation  of the  heart  and  offers  some  new  perspectives on mechanisms underlying the very low frequency  rhythm  of heart rate variability. Interpretation of heart  rate  variability  rhythms  in  the context of health risk and physiological  and 

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A healthy heart is not a metronome: an integrative reviewof the heart's anatomy and heart rate variability

Published on: 30-09-2014

Heart rate variability (HRV), the change in the time intervals between adjacent heartbeats,is an emergent property of interdependent regulatory systems that operate on different time scales to adapt to challenges and achieve optimal performance. This article briefly reviews neural regulation of the heart, and its basic anatomy, the cardiac cycle, and the sinoatrial and atrioventricular pacemakers. The cardiovascular regulation center in the medulla integrates sensory information and input from higher brain centers, and afferent

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Cardiac coherence, self-regulation, autonomic stability, and psychosocial well-being

Published on: 29-09-2014

The ability to alter one’s emotional responses is central to overall well-being and to effectively meeting the demands of life. One of the chief symptoms of events such as trauma, that overwhelm our capacities to successfully handle and adapt to them, is a shift in our internal baseline reference such that there ensues a repetitive activation of the traumatic event. This can result in high vigilance and over-sensitivity to environmental signals which are reflected in inappropriate emotional responses and autonomic nervoussystem dynamics. In this article

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Heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work?

Published on: 21-07-2014

In recent years there has been substantial support for heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) as a treatment for a variety of disorders and for performance enhancement (Gevirtz,2013). Since conditions as widely varied as asthma and depression seem to respond to this form of cardiorespiratory feedback training, the issue of possible mechanisms becomes more salient.The most supported possible mechanism is the strengthening of homeostasis in the baroreceptor (Vaschillo et al., 2002;Lehrer et al., 2003). Recently, the effect on the vagal afferent

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The Effects of Emotions on Short-Term Power Spectrum Analysis of Heart Rate Variability

Published on: 15-11-1995

This study utilizes heart rate variability analysis to examine a new method of intentionally shifting emotional states, and demonstrates that positive emotions lead to alterations in sympathovagal balance that may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension. Anger, on the other hand, was shown to significantly increase sympathetic activation.

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The Effects of Emotions on Short-Term Power Spectrum Analysis of Heart Rate Variability

Introduction: This study utilizes HRV analysis to examine a new method of intentionally shifting emotional states, and demonstrates that positive emotions lead to alterations in sympathovagal balance that may be beneficial in the treatment of hypertension. Anger, on the other hand, was shown to significantly increase sympathetic activation.
Summary: Salivary IgA, heart rate and mood were measured in thirty individuals before and after experiencing care or anger. Two methods

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