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Non-invasive Neurotechnology Reduces Symptoms of Insomnia and Improves Autonomic Nervous System Function - Neuroscience News
In this randomized and controlled study of 22 adults, researchers compared changes on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a self-report instrument to assess insomnia symptoms. About half of the participants received 10 sessions of CR-SOP linked to brainwaves while the control group received 10 sessions of randomly generated auditory tones. Sessions were received over a mean of 15.3 days. Researchers also recorded heart rate and blood pressure to assess autonomic cardiovascular regulation.
After completion of the sessions and at follow-up visits up to six weeks later, subjects in the CR-SOP group reported reduced insomnia symptoms. They also showed statistically and clinically significant improvements in autonomic function across multiple measures such as heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) compared to those who received random tones.
AI can predict early death risk: Algorithm using echocardiogram videos of the heart outperforms other predictors of mortality -- ScienceDaily
Researchers at Geisinger have found that a computer algorithm developed using echocardiogram videos of the heart can predict mortality within a year.
The algorithm -- an example of what is known as machine learning, or artificial intelligence (AI) -- outperformed other clinically used predictors, including pooled cohort equations and the Seattle Heart Failure score. The results of the study were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
"We were excited to find that machine learning can leverage unstructured datasets such as medical images and videos to improve on a wide range of clinical prediction models," said Chris Haggerty, Ph.D., co-senior author and assistant professor in the Department of Translational Data Science and Informatics at Geisinger.
Imaging is critical to treatment decisions in most medical specialties and has become one of the most data-rich components of the electronic health record (EHR). For example, a single ultrasound of the heart yields approximately 3,000 images, and cardiologists have limited time to interpret these images within the context of numerous other diagnostic data. This creates a substantial opportunity to leverage technology, such as machine learning, to manage and analyze this data and ultimately provide intelligent computer assistance to physicians.
Wearable devices can detect COVID-19 symptoms and predict diagnosis, study finds -- ScienceDaily
The Warrior Watch Study found that subtle changes in a participant's heart rate variability (HRV) measured by an Apple Watch were able to signal the onset of COVID-19 up to seven days before the individual was diagnosed with the infection via nasal swab, and also to identify those who have symptoms.
Heart rate & heart rate variability population values
Despite the fact that we highly recommend focusing on relative changes over time, in this post we provide an overview of normal values, which we advise using only to satisfy your curiosity. In particular, we will be looking at HR and rMSSD data. Most of the data was acquired using 60 seconds measurements in the morning. We will be looking only at macro differences (e.g. very big age groups), because otherwise we end up with a sample which is just too small to derive any meaningful conclusion.
Synchronizing Gait with Cardiac Cycle Phase Alters Heart Rat... : Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Finally, if diastolic stepping is truly advantageous for exercise performance, we wondered if there is any natural tendency for elite runners to step diastolically without prompting. We observed that 3 of the 10 subjects stepped accurately at the diastolic target timing (45% ± 15% RRI) during a substantial portion of their final, unprompted (silent) control period (e.g., see Fig. 2B). In one of those cases, the subject was guided to systolic step timing during the final prompted period but naturally reverted to stepping during diastole when the auditory prompt was removed. By comparison, none of the subjects stepped at a consistent systolic phase during the free stepping control stages. These anecdotal observations are also consistent with the findings of earlier authors, including Niizeki (10), which suggested that the heart automatically adjusts its timing, when HR = SR, to prevent ventricular systole from coinciding with maximal peripheral skeletal muscle contraction.
Under 40 With High Blood Pressure? Be Wary of Heart Risks - The New York Times
About half the group had normal blood pressure of 120/80 or lower. Compared with them, those with elevated pressure — 120-129/80 or higher — were 67 percent more likely to have had cardiovascular problems. People with readings of 130-139/80-89 had a 75 percent increased risk, and those with readings above 140/90 were three and a half times as likely to have some type of cardiovascular disease.
An End to Arachnophobia Just a Heartbeat Away - Neuroscience News
For one group of patients, pictures of spiders were presented in-time with heartbeats (during the signalling of cardiac arousal), while for another patient group, pictures of spiders were presented in-between heartbeats. A third control group saw spiders randomly in the therapy sessions.
Although there was some improvement among all patients, as you would expect in exposure therapy, those individuals exposed to spiders in-time with their own heartbeats showed a greater reductions in self-reported fear of spiders, anxiety levels and their physiological responses to spiders.
Do unexpected panic attacks occur spontaneously? - PubMed - NCBI
Significant patterns of instability across a number of autonomic and respiratory variables were detected as early as 47 minutes before panic onset. The final minutes before onset were dominated by respiratory changes, with significant decreases in tidal volume followed by abrupt carbon dioxide partial pressure increases. Panic attack onset was characterized by heart rate and tidal volume increases and a drop in carbon dioxide partial pressure. Symptom report was consistent with these changes. Skin conductance levels were generally elevated in the hour before, and during, the attacks. Changes in the matched control periods were largely absent.
Heart rate variability: Get to know what it brings to the fitness party
"It's the start of our focus on how sensors can be applied to wellness. HRV, which is what the Relax app is based on, is a new metric for us which took a lot of algorithmic development."
Heart rate variability: Get to know what it brings to the fitness party
Bottom line, it's an exciting time that more wearables are being able to tap into heart rate variability whether it's for improving fitness or just being able to know when you're feeling a bit stressed. This is really just the start of the relationship between the two, so don't be surprised if more HRV tracking devices are on their way over in the not too distant future.
The heart: Digital or analog? Researchers shed dramatic light on heart bioelectricity disorders -- ScienceDaily
"Sodium channels are literally stuck together between cells in way that seems to ensure that the firing of channels in one cell sparks partnering channels in the neighboring cell," Gourdie said. "The molecular machinery seems to be in place for bioelectrical signals to step between heart cells, not wholly unlike how impulses jump between nerve cells in a stepping-stone-like manner at neural synapses."
Association of Depressive Symptoms and Heart Rate Variability in Vietnam War–Era Twins: A Longitudinal Twin Difference Study | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network
The association between depression and autonomic dysregulation, indexed by HRV, is bidirectional, with stronger evidence suggesting that autonomic function affects depression risk rather than vice versa.
Association of Depressive Symptoms and Heart Rate Variability in Vietnam War–Era Twins: A Longitudinal Twin Difference Study | Cardiology | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network
The association between depression and autonomic dysregulation, indexed by HRV, is bidirectional, with stronger evidence suggesting that autonomic function affects depression risk rather than vice versa. The opposite causal pathway from depression to lower HRV is mostly driven by antidepressant use. These findings highlight an important role of autonomic nervous system in the risk of depression and contribute new understanding of the mechanisms underlying the comorbidity of depression and cardiovascular disease.
Meditation could help anxiety and cardiovascular health -- ScienceDaily
In "Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Aortic Pulsatile Load and Anxiety in Mild to Moderately Anxious Adults," Durocher, along with fellow researchers Hannah Marti, a recent Michigan Tech graduate, Brigitte Morin, lecturer in biological science, and Travis Wakeham, a graduate student, explains the finding that 60 minutes after meditating the 14 study participants showed lower resting heart rates and reduction in aortic pulsatile load -- the amount of change in blood pressure between diastole and systole of each heartbeat multiplied by heart rate. Additionally, shortly after meditating, and even one week later, the group reported anxiety levels were lower than pre-meditation levels.
