Does the Temporal Asymmetry of Short-Term Heart Rate Variability Change during Regular Walking? A Pilot Study of Healthy Young Subjects

The acceleration and deceleration patterns in heartbeat fluctuations distribute asymmetrically, which is known as heart rate asymmetry (HRA). It is hypothesized that HRA reflects the balancing regulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This study was designed to examine whether altered autonomic balance during exercise can lead to HRA changes. Sixteen healthy college students were enrolled, and each student undertook two 5-min ECG measurements: one in a resting seated position and another while walking on a treadmill at a regular speed of 5 km/h. The two measurements were conducted in a randomized order, and a 30-min rest was required between them. RR interval time series were extracted from the 5-min ECG data, and HRA (short-term) was estimated using four established metrics, that is, Porta’s index (PI), Guzik’s index (GI), slope index (SI), and area index (AI), from both raw RR interval time series and the time series after wavelet detrending that removes the low-frequency component of