Work

P01.46. Assessment of autonomic tone at rest and during meditation in a longitudinal study of an eight-week meditation intervention

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: We collected electrocardiogram recordings as part of a larger randomized controlled trial of the effects of an eight-week meditation training intervention on healthy adults without prior meditation experience. Here we report data from eight subjects before and after the “mindful-attention” meditation intervention and the control intervention. The recordings were performed while the subjects were lying supine, at rest (for both groups) and in a meditative state (for the meditation group only). We computed measures of HRV and RSA across a 3-minute epoch using a point-process model of heart beat dynamics. We found a longitudinal increase in HRV and a longitudinal decrease in LF/HF ratio (i.e., a more predominant vagal tone), both consistent with improved autonomic function, in the meditation group but not in the control group. We also found a marked increase in RSA during meditation compared to rest. These preliminary outcomes, although derived from a small sample, support our hypotheses. They suggest that measures of RSA might be useful markers of the meditative state, and encourage further investigation on the efficacy of HRV measures to indicate a general improvement of autonomic health after meditation interventions.

Source: BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6882-12-s1-p46