Diastolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Biofeedback Training During Orthostatic Stress

Forty male college student volunteers were asked either to increase their diastolic pressure or their heart rate while sitting and during orthostatic stress (going from a sitting to a standing position), and half of them were also given second- to-second visual feedback for the target variable. Systolic blood pressure was also continuously recorded. Comparisons were made between baseline and voluntary control conditions, and test trials were included to examine immediate carry-over effects. With voluntary control instructions, substantial increases in tonic levels were obtained for the three cardiovascular variables in both sitting and postural change conditions. In general, the increases were significantly greater for feedback than for no-feedback conditions. Phasic effects of feedback were also observed during postural change conditions: the blood pressure troughs and the heart rate peak occurred earlier with feedback than for instructions only. Immediate transfer effects were obtained in feedback conditions only. The results were discussed in terms of concomitant effects of somatic and cognitive activities. The distinctive feedback effects on the time course of the responses suggest that a precise analysis of response patterns is needed in selecting appropriate feedback methods in the management of orthostatic hypotension.