Author: Kim DK, Lee KM, Kim J, Whang MC, Kang SW.
Affiliation: Institute of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University Seoul, Korea ; Division of Digital Media Engineering, Sang-Myung University Seoul, Korea.
Conference/Journal: Front Hum Neurosci.
Date published: 2013 Jul 31
Other:
Volume ID: 7 , Pages: 414 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00414 , Word Count: 207
This study is aimed to determine significant physiological parameters of brain and heart under meditative state, both in each activities and their dynamic correlations. Electrophysiological changes in response to meditation were explored in 12 healthy volunteers who completed 8 weeks of a basic training course in autogenic meditation. Heart coherence, representing the degree of ordering in oscillation of heart rhythm intervals, increased significantly during meditation. Relative EEG alpha power and alpha lagged coherence also increased. A significant slowing of parietal peak alpha frequency was observed. Parietal peak alpha power increased with increasing heart coherence during meditation, but no such relationship was observed during baseline. Average alpha lagged coherence also increased with increasing heart coherence during meditation, but weak opposite relationship was observed at baseline. Relative alpha power increased with increasing heart coherence during both meditation and baseline periods. Heart coherence can be a cardiac marker for the meditative state and also may be a general marker for the meditative state since heart coherence is strongly correlated with EEG alpha activities. It is expected that increasing heart coherence and the accompanying EEG alpha activations, heart brain synchronicity, would help recover physiological synchrony following a period of homeostatic depletion.
KEYWORDS:
EEG, HRV, heart brain synchronicity, heart coherence, lagged coherence, meditation
PMID: 23914165