Observation Of Heart Rate Variability Response To Collegiate Esports Tournament

Abstract

OBSERVATION OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY RESPONSE TO COLLEGIATE ESPORTS TOURNAMENT G.B. Rhoden, S. Valladao, T.L. Andre, D. Cox. The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS1 Heart rate variability (HrV) derives from the intricate relationship of sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic regulation of heart rate. HrV has been utilized as a marker of stress and recovery in traditional sports, however, to date no investigations examined the HrV response to esports. PURPOSE: To determine the HrV response during a competitive live esports tournament in collegiate club esport competitors. METHODS: Male members of the Ole Miss esports team (n=14; age = 19.8±1.0 years; BMI = 24.1±5.5; esport mean hours per week = 18.9±11.6) participated in the study during a live esports tournament. A pre-HrV and post-HrV (5-minutes each) measures were collected using a Polar H10 HR monitor with the Elite HrV mobile app while seated. Participants were seated for 5 minutes before obtaining pre- and post-HrV measures. For during competition HrV measure, recordings for HrV began immediately prior to their esport matches and ended immediately post while remaining seated. For the statistical analyses, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for RMSSD, ln(RMSSD), and R-R intervals. Tukey’s post hoc test were used when necessary. Paired-samples t-test were utilized for LF:HF ratio and HF. Results were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05. Results are reported as mean ± standard deviation. RESULTS: R-R intervals during were significantly lower than pre- and post- (pre: 643.64ms ± 138.54ms; during: 465.71ms ± 68.99ms; post: 616.07ms ± 109.98ms, p = 0.002). HF post competition was significantly decreased compared to pre (325.83ms2 ± 341.81ms2 vs. 494.55m2 ± 526.84ms2; p = 0.046). No significant differences were found for RMSSD (pre: 25.67ms ± 17.48ms; during: 15.50ms ± 12.34ms; post: 23.72ms ± 18.07ms; p = 0.223), ln(RMSSD) (pre: 3.00ms ± 0.77ms; during: 2.51ms ± 0.69ms; post: 2.86ms ± 0.90m; p = 0.249), or pre and post LF:HF ratio (pre: 4.47 ± 2.96 vs. post: 5.54 ± 3.62; p = 0.260). CONCLUSION: This is the first investigation to observe the HrV response to a live esport competition. Future investigations should examine differences between esport games and time durations.