Effect of virtual reality-simulated exercise on sympathovagal balance

Abstract

Discovery of therapeutic avenues to provide the benefits of exercise to patients with enforced sedentary behavior patterns would be of transformative importance to health care. Work in model organisms has demonstrated that benefits of exercise can be provided to stationary animals by daily intermittent stimulation of adrenergic signaling. Here, we examine as a proof of principle whether exposure of human participants to virtual reality (VR) simulation of exercise can alter sympathovagal balance in stationary humans. In this study, 24 participants performed 15 minutes of cycling exercise at standardized resistance, then repeated the exercise with a virtual reality helmet that provided an immersive environment. On a separate day, they each controlled a virtual environment for 15 minutes to simulate exercise without actual cycling exercise. Response to each treatment was assessed by measuring heart rate (HR), norepinephrine, and heart rate variability, and each participant's response to virtual exercise was compared internally to his/her response to the actual cycling. We found that neither post-exercise norepinephrine nor post-exercise HR was significantly increased by VR simulation. However, heart rate variability measured during virtual exercise was comparable to actual cycling in participants that engaged in moderate exercise, but not in those that engaged in high-intensity exercise. These findings suggest that virtual exercise has the potential to mimic some effects of moderate exercise. Further work will be needed to examine the longitudinal effects of chronic exposure to VR-simulated exercise.

Dependence of Heart Rate Variability on Immersion in a Virtual Game and Change of Visual Content in the Flow of Virtual Reality

“…Immersive VR, which allows researchers to simulate the environment in a controlled laboratory setting with a high level of presence and interactivity, is becoming increasingly popular in emotion research [20]. In recent years, VR has also become more popular in the scientific and commercial contexts [17] However, the number of known published studies in this area is limited [12][13][14]. At the same time, they are all aimed at extrapolating the differences in the HRV reaction between the perception of the content of the real environment and VR.…”

“…However, the number of known published studies in this area is limited [12][13][14]. At the same time, they are all aimed at extrapolating the differences in the HRV reaction between the perception of the content of the real environment and VR.…”

“…Our study compares the manifestations of HRV during active actions in VR, as well as during passive stay in VR and outside VR; searches for markers that represent immersion in VR. The publications [12][13][14] show the possibility of assessing the degree of immersion in virtual game content by the manifestations of HRV. The use of this approach is due to the fact that indicators of HRV or electrical activity of the skin may be more suitable for assessing the emotional state of gamers than psychological tests.…”

“…The situation of emotional and informational transitions also occurs when using a VR helmet, which is widely used in the games industry [3], in medicine [4][5], in teaching [6][7] in virtual tourism [8][9], practicing practical skills, for example, in sociology [10], in VR cinema [11]. A relatively small number of studies to assess human physiological responses during the perception of VR content [12][13][14] are based on HRV. As a rule, previous studies extrapolate physiological data from being in VR with those caused by being in a real information environment.…”