Different effects of inspiratory duration and expiratory duration on heart rate deceleration capacity and heart rate asymmetry.

PURPOSE

Low values of heart rate deceleration capacity (DC) and heart rate asymmetry (HRA) are associated with cardiovascular risks. Slow respiration has been proven to enhance the magnitudes of these indexes, but individual inspiratory (T) and expiratory (T) durations were not controlled in most studies. This study aims to examine whether the effects of T and T on these indexes would be the same and, if not, how to adjust T and T to maximize the effect of slow respiration.

METHODS

We evaluated 14 seated healthy young adults who randomly controlled their breathing to nine combinations of T and T, each chosen respectively from 2, 4, and 6 s. A 5-min R-R interval time series was obtained from each study period for further analysis.

RESULTS

The magnitude of DC increased when T or T increased, while that of acceleration capacity (AC) remained almost unchanged by T. We further defined a new index as 100 × DC/(DC + AC) and found it to be correlated with conventional Guzik's (r = 0.94) and Porta's (r = 0.99) indexes of HRA during different combinations of T and T. Increasing T and increasing T both enhanced the magnitudes of HRA indexes, with T taking effect when ≤ 4 s, and T taking effect when > 4 s. DC and HRA indexes were maximized with a T of 4 s and a T of 6 s.

CONCLUSION

We suggest that a T of 3-4 s with a T of 7-6 s is an appropriate standard for slow respiration.