Heart rate variability as a biomarker for stress assessment
Keywords:
Parasympathetic activity, Biomarker, Stress, Variability, Heart rateAbstract
Introduction: chronic stress has a negative impact on both the individual’s health and the
economy. Physiologically, a cascade of stress hormones is triggered and autonomic nervous
system activity increases. Heart rate variability is a commonly used tool to assess autonomic
activity. Objective: to describe the utility of heart rate variability as a biomarker for stress
assessment. Methods: a bibliographic review was carried out where 23 documents extracted
from Internet databases were consulted: VHL, PubMed and SciELO. Results: the autonomic
nervous system is an important part in the control of different physiological systems. Its
main function is homeostasis. Stress is associated with fluctuations in autonomic activity
and causes disorganization of the balance of the organism. Heart rate variability is a tool
used to assess autonomic activity. It is a simple and non-invasive method that describes
the oscillations in the intervals between consecutive heartbeats. Indicates the heart’s ability
to respond to multiple events. Under stress conditions, it decreases and is associated with
reduced parasympathetic activity. Working in multidisciplinary teams in Primary Health Care
allows a more comprehensive evaluation and a more complete response to the solution of
the patient’s discomfort. Conclusions: sustained stress is associated with lower heart rate
variability, specifically reduced parasympathetic activity. Therefore, its analysis can be used
for objective assessment of mental health and stress.
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