Abstract
Heart rate variability (HRV) represents the activity and balance of the autonomic nervous system and its capability to react to internal and external stimuli. As a measure of general body homeostasis, HRV is linked to lifestyle factors and it is associated with morbidity and mortality. It is easily accessible by heart rate monitoring and gains interest in the era of smart watches and self-monitoring. In this review, we summarize effects of weight loss, training, and nutrition on HRV with a special focus on obesity. Besides weight reduction, effects of physical activity and dietary intervention can be monitored by parameters of HRV, including its time and frequency domain components. In the future, monitoring of HRV should be included in any weight reduction program as it provides an additional tool to analyze the effect of body weight on general health and homeostasis. HRV parameters could, for example, be monitored easily by implementation of an electrocardiogram (ECG) every two to four weeks during weight reduction period. Indices presumibly showing beneficial changes could be a reduction in heart rate and the number of premature ventricular complexes as well as an increase in standard deviation of normal-to-normal beat intervals (SDNN), just to name some.
Highlights
Obesity is defined as a pathologically increased body fat mass with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥30 kg/m2, whereas overweight describes a pre-stage with a BMI ranging from 25–30 kg/m2 [1]
Participants were randomized in four different study arms: (I) control group, (II) caloric restriction (CR) group with 25% decrease in energy intake, (III) calory restriction and energy expenditure (CREX) group with 12.5% decrease in energy intake plus 12.5% increase in energy expenditure (EX), or (IV) low caloric diet (LCD) group aiming for 15% weight reduction followed by weight maintenance
In summary, there has been a limited number of systematic reviews, there is a series of reports that relate various indices of Heart rate variability (HRV) to different lifestyle factors
Summary
Obesity is defined as a pathologically increased body fat mass with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥30 kg/m2, whereas overweight describes a pre-stage with a BMI ranging from 25–30 kg/m2 [1]. Obesity is associated with several co-morbidities and with a higher mortality rate [3] It has been identified as a risk factor for several cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and acute myocardial infarction [4]. It has been shown that physiological variation in the time interval between heartbeats, the so-called heart rate variability (HRV), is pathologically decreased in individuals with cardiovascular diseases [5]. The probability of developing obesity-related cardiovascular diseases as well as the risk of all-cause mortality can be measured by parameters of HRV [6,7,8]. HRV is commonly used for the analysis of activity and balance of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and can be derived from non-invasive heart rate (HR) monitors [13]. HRV may act as a biomarker when considering the influence of diet on health-related mechanisms [23]
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