Oscillations of heart rate and respiration synchronize during poetry recitation

Abstract

of heart rate and respiration synchronize during poetry recitation. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 287: H579 -H587, 2004. First published April 8, 2004 10.1152/ajpheart.01131.2003.-The objective of this study was to investigate the synchronization between low-frequency breathing patterns and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) of heart rate during guided recitation of poetry, i.e., recitation of hexameter verse from ancient Greek literature performed in a therapeutic setting. Twenty healthy volunteers performed three different types of exercises with respect to a cross-sectional comparison: 1) recitation of hexameter verse, 2) controlled breathing, and 3) spontaneous breathing. Each exercise was divided into three successive measurements: a 15-min baseline measurement (S1), 20 min of exercise, and a 15-min effect measurement (S2). Breathing patterns and RSA were derived from respiratory traces and electrocardiograms, respectively, which were recorded simultaneously using an ambulatory device. The synchronization was then quantified by the index ␥, which has been adopted from the analysis of weakly coupled chaotic oscillators. During recitation of hexameter verse, ␥ was high, indicating prominent cardiorespiratory synchronization. The controlled breathing exercise showed cardiorespiratory synchronization to a lesser extent and all resting periods (S1 and S2) had even fewer cardiorespiratory synchronization. During spontaneous breathing, cardiorespiratory synchronization was minimal and hardly observable. The results were largely determined by the extent of a low-frequency component in the breathing oscillations that emerged from the design of hexameter recitation. In conclusion, recitation of hexameter verse exerts a strong influence on RSA by a prominent low-frequency component in the breathing pattern, generating a strong cardiorespiratory synchronization.creative arts therapy; cross-sectional study design; bivariate data analysis; heart rate variability

In vivo cardiac phase response curve elucidates human respiratory heart rate variability

“…It is well known [23][24][25][45][46][47][48]51,52 that the phase of respiration influences the peripheral autonomic nervous system's outflow to the heart. However, till now it has never been shown when exactly this happens inside the cardiac cycle.…”

“…Description of cardiorespiratory interaction in terms of coupling functions yields a new technique for the quantification of respiratory-related HRV. HRV is one of the central tools of psychophysiology and behavioural medicine 44 , and the respiratory component is a significant part of it [23][24][25][45][46][47][48] , representing mainly the vagal or parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system influences. Having introduced the time-continuous phase of the ECG, we obtain a continuous description of the HRV via the instantaneous frequency _ j e ðtÞ, instead of the commonly used discontinuous beat-to-beat description.…”

Correlations between the Poincaré Plot and Conventional Heart Rate Variability Parameters Assessed during Paced Breathing

“…These fluctuations are forced to merge at the rate of respiration and to increase greatly in amplitude-enhancing measures of HRV and BRS [14,[40][41][42][43][44]. Breathing rate as slow as the 6 breaths/minute used in this study can be obtained by a paced respiration, a rhythmic speech, recitation of some poetry, rosary prayer, or yoga mantras [40][41][42][43][44]. As reported by Cysarz et al [43], the guided recitation of hexameter verse poetry exerts a strong influence on respiratory sinus arrhythmia by a prominent low-frequency component in the breathing pattern, generating a strong cardiorespiratory synchronization.…”

The Effect of Inner Speech on Arterial CO2 and Cerebral Hemodynamics and Oxygenation: A Functional NIRS Study

“…In previous studies, we showed that guided rhythmic speech exercises in the context of arts speech therapy (AST) cause changes in heart rate variability [1,2], cardiorespiratory interactions [3], as well as hemodynamics and oxygenation in the brain and muscle [4][5][6]. In particular, we demonstrated that during speech exercises, a decrease in cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation occurred.…”