Rhythmic Skeletal Muscle Tension Increases Heart Rate Variability at 1 and 6 Contractions Per Minute

Breathing at the resonance frequency (~ 6 breaths per min) produces resonance effects on baroreflex gain, blood pressure, vascular tone, and therapeutic benefits. Evgeny Vaschillo and Paul Lehrer have emphasized that the stimulation frequency is critical for producing resonance effects in the cardiorespiratory system. Although clinicians overwhelmingly use paced breathing to increase HRV, other promising methods exist. Vaschillo, Lehrer, and colleagues have shown that presenting non-respiratory stimulation at 0.1 Hz-pictures with an emotional valence or rhythmical muscle tensing-amplifies oscillations in heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular tone. Participants in the present study included 49 undergraduate students randomly assigned to one of six different orders of 5-min trials of 1, 6, and 12 muscle contractions per min (cpm), separated by 3-min buffer periods intended to minimize carryover. This randomized controlled trial replicated the Vaschillo et al. (Psychophysiology 48:927-936, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01156.x ) finding that 6-cpm RSMT can produce a PkFreq of ~ 0.10 Hz, similar to 6-bpm RF breathing. RSMT at 1 and 6 cpm increased five time-domain metrics (HR Max-HR Min, RMSSD, SDNN, TI, and TINN), one frequency-domain metric (LF power), and three non-linear metrics (D2, SD1, SD2) significantly more than RSMT at 12 cpm. There were no differences between 1 and 6 cpm on these measures. The 1-cpm rate (~ 0.02 Hz) may have stimulated the hypothesized vascular tone baroreflex between 0.02 and 0.055 Hz. RSMT at 1 or 6 cpm provides clients with an alternative exercise for increasing HRV for patients who find slow-paced breathing challenging or medically unsafe.