Is Mental Stress Always Chaotic? An Analysis of the Adaptability of Neurovisceral Regulation Through the Complexity of Heart Rate Oscillations
Keywords:
Stress, Sample entropy, Heart rate variabilityAbstract
The biological stress model suggests that the type of adaptive response to stressors depends on the phase of the process. Some of these responses indicate reduced adaptability and decreased chaos in heart rate oscillations. This theoretical review presents experimental findings using sample entropy of heart rate oscillations across the different phases of Selye’s predominant biological stress model. Changes in sample entropy occur throughout the phases of this model, with decreases during the alarm and exhaustion phases and increases during the resistance phase. These findings highlight the potential of chaos theory and complex systems analysis to describe dimensions of physiological changes associated with the biopsychosocial-cultural process of stress.
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