The psychophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) points towards autonomic dysregulation—specifically, elevated sympathetic response and attenuated parasympathetic response. In view of this, heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback has been applied and tested as a treatment for PTSD. Review of existing published research suggests that HRV biofeedback seems promising as a treatment fo...

Individuals with high heart rate variability tend to have better emotional well-being than those with low heart rate variability, but the mechanisms of this association are not yet clear. In this paper, we propose the novel hypothesis that by inducing oscillatory activity in the brain, high amplitude oscillations in heart rate enhance functional connectivity in brain networks associated with em...

The author is director of research for the Institute of HeartMath, which has conducted the majority of the research leading to the identification of the psychophysiological coherence state. Consequent to this was the development of the portable heart rate variability device, the emWave, and the computer-interfaced heart rate variability instrument, the emWavePC. The article presents an approach...