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Heartbeat synchronized with ventilation

Abstract

It is widely accepted that cardiac and respiratory rhythms in humans are unsynchronised1. However, a newly developed data analysis technique allows any interaction that does occur in even weakly coupled complex systems to be observed. Using this technique, we found long periods of hidden cardiorespiratory synchronization, lasting up to 20 minutes, during spontaneous breathing at rest.

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Figure 1: Analysis of cardiorespiratory cycles.

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Schäfer, C., Rosenblum, M., Kurths, J. et al. Heartbeat synchronized with ventilation. Nature 392, 239–240 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/32567

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