A dataset of heart rate variability and respiratory activity during paced and free breathing

Overview This dataset contains physiological recordings of respiratory activity and heart rate variability (RR intervals). The data were collected to investigate and analyze respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). All files are provided in .xlsx, .csv, and .txt format to ensure broad interoperability and are optimized for analysis in software such as R, Python, or MATLAB. Data Content The repository includes heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration data to map cardiorespiratory coupling. Heart rate variability data: Provided in both wide (RR_hrvb.csv) and long (RR_long_format.csv) format. It contains the time intervals between successive heartbeats (RR intervals), suitable for HRV analysis. HRV parameters (hrv_indexes.xlsx): Time and frequency domain indexes for each participant, session and breathing frequency. Respiration data in long format (resp_hrvb.txt): Provided in long format. Column name conventions in the HRV wide format file: Column names begin by specifying the variable as RR (rr) and timestamps (time). The variable name is followed by the participant number and session. This is the original file downloaded from the server where the data is stored. Variables (column names) across the HRV long format file includes: Participante: Unique identifier for each participant. Sesion: Session number (from 1 to 6). rr: RR interval in milliseconds / seconds. timestamp: Time of recording in seconds from start. resp: Respiratory frequency from 1 to 10. output: Binary indicator where 1 represents paced breathing and 0 represents spontaneous breathing. Variables (column names) across the Respiration long format file includes: Participante: Unique identifier for each participant. Sesion: Session number (from 1 to 6). resp_val: RR interval in milliseconds / seconds. timestamp: Time of recording in seconds from start. resp: Respiratory frequency from 1 to 10. output: Binary indicator where 1 represents paced breathing and 0 represents spontaneous breathing. Variables (column names) across the HRV indexes file includes: Participante: Unique identifier for each participant. Sesion: Session number (from 1 to 6). resp: Respiratory frequency from 1 to 10. MeanHR mRR SDNN RMSSD pNN50 VLF_peak LF_peak HF_peak VLF_power LF_power HF_power VLF_norm LF_norm HF_norm LF_nu HF_nu LF_HF_ratio Total_power output: Binary indicator where 1 represents paced breathing and 0 represents spontaneous breathing. Data acquisition The dataset includes 35 healthy participants, 16 men (average age = 30.5 ± 13.10 years) and 19 women (average age = 25.63 ± 7.26 years). The study consisted of six weekly sessions of optimal resonance frequency protocol. Each session comprised 20 minutes of continuous, synchronized recording of RR intervals and respiration.Each session began with two minutes of paced breathing guided by an audio metronome set at 6.5 breaths per minute (bpm). This phase was immediately followed by a period of spontaneous breathing, during which no metronome was displayed (free breathing). The sequence of paced and free breathing phases alternated throughout the session. During each subsequent paced breathing phase, the breathing rate was progressively reduced by 0.5 bpm compared to the previous one, until reaching a final paced breathing rate of 4.5 bpm.