Study of the Effect of Acute Mental Stress on Heart Rate Variability in Obese Adults in Darbhanga District

Background: Obesity and stress are two lifestyle risk factors that have an impact on a variety of physiological aspects of the human body. Autonomic neural activity determines how well a person can handle stress. In the current study, we compared the frequency domain indices of HRV in obese and non-obese adults in Darbhanga District before and during a mental arithmetic stress test. Methods: The current study was carried out at Department of Physiology, Darbhanga Medical College, Laheriasarai, Bihar from April 2024 to June 2024. Prior to the study start, approval from the institute ethics committee was acquired. Results: Similar in age for five minutes, 60 male subjects, 30 obese and 30 non-obese performed a mental arithmetic stress test. Prior to the stress test, the rise in LFnu and LF/HF ratio in the obese group was statistically significant (p <0.001). Obese patients showed decreased LFnu, HFnu, and LF/HF ratio during the mental arithmetic test, with the LFnu reduction statistically significant (p<0.01). In contrast, there was a statistically significant decrease in HFnu (p>0.05) and an increase among LFnu (p<0.001) and LF/HF ratio (p<0.01) in non-obese patients. Conclusion: The findings imply that the obese group has lower autonomic neural activity in response to mental stress.