Heart rate and cardiac autonomic responses to concomitant deep breathing, hand grip exercise, and circulatory occlusion in healthy young adult men and women

David C Andrade,Camilo Toledo,Noah J Marcus,Gonzalo Martinez,Rodrigo Del Rio,Angélica Rios-Gallardo,Claudia Melipillan,Fernando C Ortiz,Paula Muñoz Venturelli

doi:10.1186/s40659-021-00355-1

Abstract

BackgroundDeep breathing (DB) and handgrip (HG) exercise -with and without circulatory occlusion (OC) in muscle-, have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular function; however, the combination of these maneuvers on heart rate (HR) and cardiac sympathovagal balance have not been previously investigated. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of simultaneous DB, HG, and OC maneuvers on the sympathovagal balance in healthy women and men subjects.Methods and resultsElectrocardiogram and ventilation were measured in 20 healthy subjects (Women: n = 10; age = 27 ± 4 years; weight = 67.1 ± 8.4 kg; and height = 1.6 ± 0.1 m. Men: n = 10; age = 27 ± 3 years; weight = 77.5 ± 10.1 kg; and height = 1.7 ± 0.1 m) at baseline and during DB, DB + HG, or DB + HG + OC protocols. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate were continuously recorded, and spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) were calculated to indirectly estimate cardiac autonomic function. Men and women showed similar HR responses to DB, DB + HG and DB + HG + OC. Men exhibited a significant HR decrease following DB + HG + OC protocol which was accompanied by an improvement in cardiac autonomic control evidenced by spectral changes in HRV towards parasympathetic predominance (HRV High frequency: 83.95 ± 1.45 vs. 81.87 ± 1.50 n.u., DB + HG + OC vs. baseline; p < 0.05). In women, there was a marked decrease in HR after completion of both DB + HG and DB + HG + OC tests which was accompanied by a significant increase in cardiac vagal tone (HRV High frequency: 85.29 ± 1.19 vs. 77.93 ± 0.92 n.u., DB + HG vs. baseline; p < 0.05). No adverse effects or discomfort were reported by men or women during experimental procedures. Independent of sex, combination of DB, HG, and OC was tolerable and resulted in decreases in resting HR and elevations in cardiac parasympathetic tone.ConclusionsThese data indicate that combined DB, HG and OC are effective in altering cardiac sympathovagal balance and reducing resting HR in healthy men and women.

Highlights

Deep breathing (DB) and handgrip (HG) exercise -with and without circulatory occlusion (OC) in muscle, have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular function; the combination of these maneuvers on heart rate (HR) and cardiac sympathovagal balance have not been previously investigated
These data indicate that combined DB, HG and OC are effective in altering cardiac sympathovagal bal‐ ance and reducing resting HR in healthy men and women
We found that low frequency to high frequency (LF/High frequency (HF)) ratio was significantly decreased during recovery compared to baseline values (0.21 ± 0.02 vs. 0.31 ± 0.07 Low frequency (LF)/HF ratio, Recovery 3 vs. Baseline, respectively, Statistical power (SP): 0.86) (Fig. 2A and B)

Summary

Introduction

Deep breathing (DB) and handgrip (HG) exercise -with and without circulatory occlusion (OC) in muscle-, have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular function; the combination of these maneuvers on heart rate (HR) and cardiac sympathovagal balance have not been previously investigated. Voluntary slow breathing exercises have been proposed as a potential non-pharmacological approach to improving outcomes in cardiovascular disease due to their effect on sympathovagal tone [5]. While there is evidence that DB offers a non-pharmacological strategy to improve cardiac autonomic function [8], there are other non-pharmacological therapies that have been shown to have similar effects, such as isometric handgrip exercise [9]

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