Search

We compared the relative ability of continuous accelerometric, electromyographic (EMG), and hydrostatic posture measurements to discriminate tasks involving variations in motor activity and posture and to predict heart rate (HR) variability. EMG was a more sensitive measure than accelerometry in differentiating the tasks. However, accelerometry and EMG explained comparable amounts of HR variance. The hydrostatic posture was a stable measure that clearly differentiated postures and explained a significant amount of HR variance but less than accelerometry or EMG. Accelerometric and EMG measures of motor activity used either alone or in combination with the hydrostatic posture are valuable in discriminating activities and in controlling for the effects of motor activity and posture on HR during ambulatory measurement.

The psychophysiological responses to laboratory stressors are often examined because it is believed that such responses relate to responsiveness in real life situations. This belief has seldom been tested. The changes in heart rate, pulse transit time, and respiration rate produced by a variety of laboratory tasks (active and passive coping and physical exercise) were related to ambulatory measures of heart rate in 32 young men. The field measures were the difference in heart rate between the waking day and when asleep, and estimates of the variability of heart rate during the day, derived from time series analyses. Average changes in heart rate and pulse transit time during specific tasks did not relate consistently to heart rate in the field. However, an active coping index, derived from the ratio of the peak heart rate during an active coping task to the peak during physical exercise related to all the field measures of heart rate responsiveness. This index, which may relate to measures of additional heart rate and heightened sympathetic response to stress, also correlated positively with Trait Anxiety and elevated basal sympathetic arousal, as measured by skin conductance level. Measures of the cardiovascular response to a passive coping task, the cold pressor, and exercise did not relate to heart rate responses in the field. The findings suggest that heightened cardiac responsiveness in real life is exhibited by subjects who show elevated peak responses to active coping stressors specifically.

A simple activity measure based on the EMG recorded from the thigh was developed to monitor the physical activity of ambulatory subjects. The performance of this activity measure was assessed during four major physical activities: running, walking, standing, and sitting. Heart rate was also monitored. The results were analysed within individuals using time series analysis. The heart rate and activity series (of consecutive 30-s means) required similar models within individuals, and both measures differentiated among running, walking, and non-movement. The activity measure did not discriminate between postures. This measure covaried closely with heart rate and emerged as a necessary and relatively more significant predictor of heart rate variance than knowledge of the type of physical activity the subjects were undertaking. Posture, however, did add a significant and independent contribution to heart rate variance. This activity measure appears to be a simple, reliable, and valuable method of measurement of physical activity variations in ambulatory subjects.