Heart rate variability

Variation in time between two successive heart beats occurring due to internal and external stimulation causes Heart Rate Variability (HRV). HRV is a tool for indirect investigation of both cardiac and autonomic system function in both healthy and diseased condition. It has been speculated that HRV analysis by nonlinear method might bring potentially useful prognosis information into light which will be helpful for assessment of cardiac condition. In this study, HRV from two types of data sets (normal sinus rhythm and sinus arrhythmia) are analyzed which are stored in MIT-BIH (Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Beth Israel hospital) database, an extended collection of recorded physiological signals. Then two nonlinear methods, approximate entropy (ApEn) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), have been applied to analyze HRV of both Arrhythmia patients and people having normal sinus rhythm. It has been clearly shown that nonlinear parameters obtained from these two methods reflect the opposite heart condition of the two types of subjects under study, healthy and diseased, by HRV measures. Thus, value of the nonlinear parameters found in this work can be used as standard when treating suspected patients for diagnosis of Arrhythmia. Also, by measuring these nonlinear parameter values, heart condition can be understood.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the changes in heart rate variability (HRV) parameters due to a specific physical, mental or combined load. More specifically, the difference in effect between mental load and physical activity is studied. In addition, the effect of the combined physical and mental demand on the HRV parameters was examined and compared with the changes during the single task. In a laboratory environment, 28 subjects went through a protocol with different types of load (physical and/or mental), each followed by a period of rest. Continuous wavelet transformation was applied to create time series of instantaneous power and frequency in specified frequency bands (LF and HF). HF could distinguish the active conditions from the rest condition, meaning that HRV is sensitive to any change in mental or physical state. Differences in HRV parameters were observed between physical, mental and the combined load. In conclusion, we were able to distinguish between rest, phys...

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS RESPONSES DURING ANTICIPATION OF PUBLIC SPEAKING TASK IN ELITE ATHLETES
Üngür, G., Bayazıt, O., Tok, S., Bakır, M.
Dokuz Eylül University, School of Sport Sciences and Technology
Introduction Coping with stress is quite important for sporty performance in sport field that has intense competition. In this context, some individual traits may contribute to athletes. In recent years, it was seem that besides subjective methods objective physiologic parameters
were examined in certain sport studies revealing significant findings (Shelly-Trembley 2006, Huang and Hung 2010, Laborde, Brüll, Weber and Anders 2011). Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the effect of emotional intelligence (EI) and personality traits on
electrophysiological stress responses of elite athletes. Method Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale and short form Five Factors Personality
Inventory were completed by 54 elite athletes (32 male, 22 female). In order to trigger stress responses, participants were asked to prepare
a speech to perform in front of small group introducing their own sport branches, and were given 5 minutes for preparation. In these labrotory processes, electrophysiological parameters which consist of electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance response were recorded by a portable biopotential amplifier (Nexus 10 Mark II, Holland). Results
In course of preparation for a speech, it was found that participants, who have high score on dimension of utilizations of emotions, have lower low frequency/high frequency (LF/HF) ratio, while participants, who have high conscientiousness trait, have lower skin conductivity. In addition, it was found that participants, who have high agreeableness trait, have lower heart rate. Discussion The present study provided
evidence to suggest that personality traits together with EI may lead different psychophysiological response patterns under stress. According to research findings, it may be said that, people who have high level of ability for utilization of emotions, have lower stress responses. In another study, similary, negative significant corelation was found between dimension of emotional control and LF/HF ratio (Laborde et al 2011). Since athletes, who have high conscientiousness trait, have lower skin conductivity before speech task, it may be said that athletes who have this personality trait have lower stress reponses before performance. Moreover, it may be said that people who
have high agreeableness trait stay calmer while preparing for a speech task. References Shelly-Trembley JF, Kline JP. (2006). Changes in EEG laterality index effects of social inhibition on putting in novice golfers. Journal of Sport Behavior. 29(4):353-373. Huang C, Hung T. (2010). Using the IZOF hypothesis to examine the relationship between salivary cortisol and shooting performance. International journal of psychophysiology, 3:274. Laborde S, Brüll A, Weber J, Anders LS. (2011). Trait emotional intelligence in sports: A protective role against
stress through heart rate variability? Personality and Individual Differences, 51(1):23-27. Contact gamze.ungur@deu.edu.tr