The Influence of Virtual Reality on the Autonomic Nervous System

Abstract

This article presents a new way to research the autonomic nervous system (ANS), primarily for people who cannot undergo physical exercise due to health reasons. The main idea is to determine heart rate variability only through the ANS, which includes sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves. The proposed approach is related to using a Holter device to record the intervals between heartbeats and a 3D virtual reality device by applying a virtual helmet (Photontree Pro 3D). A spectral method was used for heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. During heavy physical work or sports (running), the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic nervous system) is activated, which decreases the HRV. Similar results are obtained when simulating a stressful situation through a 3D game. A 3D game was developed using the Java programming language (Java3D) for the conducted experiments. The article shows the results of the comparative analysis of two types of recordings: at rest and during a 3D game (virtual reality). From the obtained results, it can be seen that in a simulated stressful situation, the ANS changes, and from there, the HRV also changes.