Mental and Social Aspects
In the field of psychophysiology, there is interest in HRV. For example, HRV is related to emotional arousal. High-frequency (HF) activity has been found to decrease under conditions of acute time pressure and emotional strain and elevated state anxiety, presumably related to focused attention and motor inhibition. HRV has been shown to be reduced in individuals reporting a greater frequency and duration of daily worry. In individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), HRV and its HF component (see below) is reduced compared to controls whilst the low-frequency (LF) component is elevated. Furthermore, unlike controls, PTSD patients demonstrated no LF or HF reactivity to recalling a traumatic event.
The Polyvagal Theory derives from a psychophysiologic imputation of importance to HRV. This theory emphasizes the role of heart rate variability in understanding the magnitude and nature of vagal outflow to the heart. This theory decomposes heart rate variability based on frequency domain characteristics with an emphasis on respiratory sinus arrhythmia and its transmission by a neural pathway that is distinct from other components of HRV. There is anatomic and physiological evidence for a polyvagal control of the heart. Several publications outline the Polyvagal Theory in detail.
Read more about this topic: Heart Rate Variability
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