A healthy heart is not a metronome: An integrative review of the heart’s anatomy and … | RTCL.TV
Heart rate variability (HRV) refers to the variation in time intervals between adjacent heartbeats, which is an emergent property of interdependent regulatory systems that operate on different time scales. This article reviews neural regulation of the heart and its basic anatomy, including the cardiac cycle and sinoatrial and atrioventricular pacemakers. The cardiovascular regulation center in the medulla integrates sensory information and input from higher brain centers to adjust heart rate and blood pressure via sympathetic and parasympathetic efferent pathways.
Sympathetic and parasympathetic influences on the heart are discussed, as well as the interpretation of HRV and its association with disease risk and mortality.
The article also considers new perspectives on the underlying physiological mechanisms and properties of different frequency bands, including ULF, VLF, LF, and HF.
Common time and frequency domain measurements are reviewed, along with standardized data collection protocols. The article integrates several theoretical frameworks, including Porges’s polyvagal theory, Thayer and colleagues’ neurovisceral integration model, Lehrer, Vaschillo, and Vaschillo’s resonance frequency model, and the Institute of HeartMath’s coherence model.
The authors conclude that a coherent heart is characterized by both complexity and stability over longer time scales, and future research should expand the understanding of how the heart influences the brain.
This article was authored by Fredric Bruce Shaffer, Rollin McCarty, and Christopher L Zerr We are RTCL.TV, links are in the description below.
