Improve Autonomic Nervous System Function Reducing Stress with Online Mindfulness Training
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“Research has found that meditation can positively affect a measure of heart health known as heart rate variability (HRV). HRV reflects how quickly your heart makes small changes in the time interval between each heartbeat. A high HRV is a sign of healthier heart. . . With regular meditation, you may be able to raise your HRV. – Harvard Mens Health
In our lives we are confronted with a variety of situations and environments. In order to successfully navigate these differing situations, we must be able to adapt and self-regulate. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is designed to adapt physiologically to the varying demands on us. It is composed of 2 divisions; the sympathetic division underlies activation, including increases in heart rate and blood pressure, while the parasympathetic division underlies relaxation, including decreases in heart rate and blood pressure. A measure of the balance between these systems is provided by the variability of the heart rate.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) refers to the change in the time intervals between consecutive heart beats. Higher levels of HRV are indicative of flexibility in the Autonomic Nervous System and are associated with adaptability to varying environments. Mindfulness has been associated with psychological flexibility and a greater ability to adapt appropriately to differing situations. Indeed, mindfulness practice improves Heart Rate Variability (HRV). It makes sense to explore the ability of real world mindfulness training with an online app to improve autonomic nervous system function as measured by heart rate variability.
In today’s Research News article “Heart rate variability is enhanced during mindfulness practice: A randomized controlled trial involving a 10-day online-based mindfulness intervention.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7746169/ ) Kirk and Axelsen recruited healthy adults online and randomly assigned them to either a mindfulness, music, or no treatment control group. The mindfulness group received mindfulness training with a smartphone app (Headspace) while the music group listened to music also with a smartphone app for 10 days. Before and after training they were measured for mindfulness, sleep quality, perceived stress, and respiration rate and had their electrocardiogram measured to determine heart rate and heart rate variability.
They found that in comparison to baseline and the no-treatment control group, the mindfulness training group had significantly greater mindfulness and sleep quality and significantly lower perceived stress. Although the music group also had a reduction in perceive stress, the mindfulness group had a significantly greater reduction.
They found that during the mindfulness and music sessions there were significant increases in heart rate variability but only during the mindfulness sessions was there a significant reduction in respiration rate. Outside of the sessions, they found that the mindfulness group and not the music or control groups had significant increases in heart rate variability during the daytime, nighttime, and during sleep.
This was a well-controlled study in that an active as well as passive control conditions were present. So, clear conclusions about causation can be reached. The results suggest that mindfulness trained with a smartphone app increases heart rate variability both acutely, during the sessions, and chronically, outside of the training sessions across the day including during sleep. These increases in heart rate variability suggest an increase in parasympathetic activity and a decrease in sympathetic activity. These reflect an improved balance and relaxation in the autonomic nervous system. These increases in heart rate variability are physiological measures reflecting the psychological measures of decreased perceived stress and improved sleep quality. Hence, online mindfulness training of relatively short duration is capable of improving both physiological and psychological indicators of stress and improving sleep.
So, improve autonomic nervous system function reducing stress with online mindfulness training.
“Generally speaking, a low and irregular HRV indicates a stressed state and a high and regular HRV indicates a relaxed state such as mindfulness.” – Mindfio
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Kirk, U., & Axelsen, J. L. (2020). Heart rate variability is enhanced during mindfulness practice: A randomized controlled trial involving a 10-day online-based mindfulness intervention. PloS one, 15(12), e0243488. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243488
Abstract
Objectives
The goal of the present study was to probe the effects of mindfulness practice in a naturalistic setting as opposed to a lab-based environment in the presence of continuous heart rate variability (HRV) measurements. The specific experimental goals were to examine the effects of a brief 10-day online-based mindfulness intervention on both chronic and acute HRV responses.
Method
We conducted a fully randomized 10-day longitudinal trial of mindfulness practice, explicitly controlling for practice effects with an active-control group (music listening) and a non-intervention control group. To assess chronic cardiovascular effects, we asked participants in the 3 groups to complete 2-day HRV pre- and post-intervention measurement sessions. Using this experimental setup enabled us to address training effects arising from mindfulness practice to assess physiological impact on daytime as well as nighttime (i.e. assessing sleep quality) on the underlying HRV response. To assess acute cardiovascular effects, we measured HRV in the 2 active intervention groups during each of the 10 daily mindfulness or music sessions. This allowed us to track the development of purported training effects arising from mindfulness practice relative to the active-control intervention in terms of changes in the HRV slope over the 10-day time-course.
Results
Firstly, for the acute phase we found increased HRV during the daily practice sessions in both the mindfulness and active-control group indicating that both interventions were effective in decreasing acute physiological stress. Secondly, for the chronic phase we found increased HRV in both the day- and nighttime indicating increased sleep quality, specifically in the mindfulness group.
Conclusion
These results suggest causal effects in both chronic and acute phases of mindfulness practice in formerly naïve subjects and provides support for the argument that brief online-based mindfulness interventions exert positive impact on HRV.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7746169/