Nonlinear Dynamical Characterization Of Heart Rate Variability Time Series Of Meditation
B. S. Raghavendra, D. Narayana Dutt
September 29, 2011 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1055977 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 12 |
| Population | Eight Chi and four Kundalini meditation practitioners |
| Intervention | Kundalini meditation |
| Measures | minimum embedding dimension (MED), correlation dimension (CD), largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), nonlinearity scores (NLS) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 16 |
| Key findings | Meditation produced a significant decrease in correlation dimension and an increase in the largest Lyapunov exponent of heart rate variability compared with pre-meditation baseline, indicating less complex and less predictable dynamics. Nonlinearity scores were highest during meditation. The authors argue this shows the cardiac state during meditation is highly nonlinear and dynamic, not quiescent. |
Abstract
Many recent electrophysiological studies have revealed the importance of investigating meditation state in order to achieve an increased understanding of autonomous control of cardiovascular functions. In this paper, we characterize heart rate variability (HRV) time series acquired during meditation using nonlinear dynamical parameters. We have computed minimum embedding dimension (MED), correlation dimension (CD), largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), and nonlinearity scores (NLS) from HRV time series of eight Chi and four Kundalini meditation practitioners. The pre-meditation state has been used as a baseline (control) state to compare the estimated parameters. The chaotic nature of HRV during both pre-meditation and meditation is confirmed by MED. The meditation state showed a significant decrease in the value of CD and increase in the value of LLE of HRV, in comparison with premeditation state, indicating a less complex and less predictable nature of HRV. In addition, it was shown that the HRV of meditation state is having highest NLS than pre-meditation state. The study indicated highly nonlinear dynamic nature of cardiac states as revealed by HRV during meditation state, rather considering it as a quiescent state.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Nonlinear analysis of heart rate variability signals in meditative state: a review and perspective BioMedical Engineering OnLine April 13, 2023
- Detection of Meditation-Induced HRV Dynamics Using Averaging Technique-Based Oversampled Feature Set and Machine Learning Classifiers IEEE Access 2023
- Analysis of degree of nonlinearity and stochastic nature of HRV signal during meditation using delay vector variance method. Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference 2011