Heart rate variability (HRV) during virtual reality immersion

The goal of the study was assessment of the hour-long training involving handling virtual environment (sVR) and watching a stereoscopic 3D movie on the mechanisms of autonomic heart rate (HR) regulation among the subjects who were not predisposed to motion sickness. In order to exclude predispositions to motion sickness, all the participants (n=19) underwent a Coriolis test. During an exposure to 3D and sVR the ECG signal was continuously recorded using the Holter method. For the twelve consecutive 5-min epochs of ECG signal, the analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) in time and frequency domains was conducted. After 30 min from the beginning of the training in handling the virtual workstation a significant increase in LF spectral power was noted. The values of the sympathovagal LF/HF index while sVR indicated a significant increase in sympathetic predominance in four time intervals, namely between the 5th and the 10th minute, between the 15th and the 20th minute, between the 35th and 40th minute and between the 55th and the 60th minute of exposure.