SelfDesignExperiment:HeartRateandRelaxation

S.Z.&Y.S.BME333L1

I. INTRODUCTION
Intheexperiment,meditationiscomparedtogeneralrelaxationinsupineandloungingform,
andthesleepingstate.Thisistoobserveifmeditationofferssimilarphysiologicalandhealthbenefitsto
normalrest.Itishypothesizedthatmeditationwillbenearequivalenttothesleepingstate,duetothe
inducedrelaxationofthemindandbody.Iftheresultsportrayinsignificantdata,thenmeditationand
statesofrelaxationhasnoeffectontheelectricalsignaloftheheart,underthenullhypothesis.
II. BACKGROUND
Heartrateincreaseswithactivity,tomaintainproperbloodflowandnutrientdeliverythroughout
thebody.Whenthesubjectexperiencesmorestrenuousactivity,theelectricalsignaloftheheartis
higherandisevidentonaECG.Theoppositeshouldalsobetrue.Ifthesubjectisexperiencingdifferent
levelsofreaction,theelectricalsignaloftheheartshouldgodown.
III. METHODOLOGY
AtleasttwosubjectswillbepreppedandsetupforastandardECGtest,asperformedwith
materialsusedinModule3[].Oncethesubjectissituated,theelectricalsignalwillbemeasuredfor20s
forrelaxedsupine,relaxedloungingsubjectwillbeplacedonachairbutreclined,andwhile
meditating.Themeasurementstakenwhileasleepwillbetakenforafull60s,asitisnoteasilyrepeated
andtooptimizetheinformationcollected.Sleepwillbenaturallyinduced,withouttheuseofmedication.
Trialswillberepeatedthreetimes,withtheexceptionofthesleeptrial.
FiveindividualPQRSTwaveswillbecomparedfromeachtest.TheindividualDeltaT
durationsandPPamplitudesofthesegmentswillbecollected.Value,BPM,willbetakentocompare
theRRintervalofeachwave.AlldatawillbestatisticallyanalyzedthroughvisualgraphsandANOVA

ptests,todiscoveriftheresultsweresignificant.
Therearetwomainobstaclesinthislab.ThefirstistheECGsystemsinterference.Withslight
movements,thePQRSTwaverecordedcanbecomedistorted.Nomatterhowaccuratetheresults,
thatinterferencemustbeconsidered.Thesecondobstacleisanalyzingthesubjectwhilesleeping.The
subjectmustbeabletofallasleepwithinthedesignatedlab/testingperiod,andtestabledatamustbe
obtained.Itisalsoimpossibletotellwhatlevelofsleepthesubjectisin,deeporlight.Thesestates
couldaffectthePQRST.
IV. CONCLUSION
Ifsleepingheartratesarestatisticallysimilartomeditatingheartrates,itcanbesuggestedthat
individualswhosufferfromsleepingdisorders,suchasinsomnia,wouldbeabletoreapthesame
benefitsasanindividualwithafullnight'ssleep.Thedataobtainedfromthisexperimentcanproveuseful
forcollegestudents,whohaveatendencytoforgosleepforstudying.
Ifthehypothesisisfoundtobeincorrect,theresultscanstillbeusedtocomparemeditationto
restfulsleep.Theresultscouldinsteaddetermineasecondbestalternativewiththesubjectshealthin
mind.Ithasalreadybeendiscoveredthatpeoplefeelmorerefreshedaftersimplysittingdown,and
closingtheireyes,withoutactuallysleeping,ratherthanforgoingsleepcompletely[].Bytestingmultiple
methodsofrelaxation,thebestalternativecouldbedeveloped.