Time-frequency heart rate variability characteristics of young adults during physical, mental and combined stress in laboratory environment

The goal of this study was to evaluate the changes in heart rate variability (HRV) parameters due to a specific physical, mental or combined load. More specifically, the difference in effect between mental load and physical activity is studied. In addition, the effect of the combined physical and mental demand on the HRV parameters was examined and compared with the changes during the single task. In a laboratory environment, 28 subjects went through a protocol with different types of load (physical and/or mental), each followed by a period of rest. Continuous wavelet transformation was applied to create time series of instantaneous power and frequency in specified frequency bands (LF and HF). HF could distinguish the active conditions from the rest condition, meaning that HRV is sensitive to any change in mental or physical state. Differences in HRV parameters were observed between physical, mental and the combined load. In conclusion, we were able to distinguish between rest, physical and mental condition by combining different HRV characteristics. The addition of a mental load to a physical task had an extra effect on the HRV characteristics.

[1]  R. Cohen,et al.  Power spectrum analysis of heart rate fluctuation: a quantitative probe of beat-to-beat cardiovascular control. , 1981, Science.

[2]  U. Lundberg,et al.  Stress and workload of men and women in high-ranking positions. , 1999, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[3]  J. Miller,et al.  Decreased heart rate variability and its association with increased mortality after acute myocardial infarction. , 1987, The American journal of cardiology.

[4]  S. Porges Cardiac vagal tone: A physiological index of stress , 1995, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[5]  Y. Stern,et al.  Increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic cardiovascular modulation in normal humans with acute sleep deprivation. , 2005, Journal of applied physiology.

[6]  B. McEwen,et al.  Stress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease. , 1993, Archives of internal medicine.

[7]  Stephen Stansfeld,et al.  Stress and the Heart: Psychosocial Pathways to Coronary Heart Disease , 2002 .

[8]  S. G. Kuklin,et al.  Continuous wavelet analysis: A new method for studying nonstationary oscillations in the cardiac rhythm , 2006, Human Physiology.

[9]  Willis J. Tompkins,et al.  A Real-Time QRS Detection Algorithm , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[10]  S. Porges,et al.  Respiratory and heart rate components of attention. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.

[11]  John A Updegraff,et al.  Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. , 2000, Psychological review.

[12]  P. Sleight,et al.  Effects of controlled breathing, mental activity and mental stress with or without verbalization on heart rate variability. , 2000, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[13]  Elke Vlemincx,et al.  Sigh rate and respiratory variability during mental load and sustained attention. , 2011, Psychophysiology.

[14]  G. Sammer Heart period variability and respiratory changes associated with physical and mental load: non-linear analysis. , 1998, Ergonomics.

[15]  A. Garde,et al.  Effects of mental and physical demands on heart rate variability during computer work , 2002, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[16]  G. Breithardt,et al.  Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. , 1996 .

[17]  S. Huffel,et al.  Influence of Mental Stress on Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability , 2009 .

[18]  M Vallverdú,et al.  Heart rate variability analysis based on time–frequency representation and entropies in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients , 2008, Physiological measurement.