Introduction: Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and emotional responsiveness. Music influences autonomic regulation through the heart–brain axis, yet sex-specific autonomic responses to different musical genres remain insufficiently characterized. Materials and methods: HRV parameters were recorded in 24 healthy young adults (17 females, 7 males; mean age 27.04 ± 1.97 years) at rest and during exposure to six musical genres: Baroque, Jazz, Heavy Metal, Romantic, Traditional Romanian, and Ambient. Time-domain and frequency-domain HRV parameters, including low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), normalized LF (nLF), normalized HF(nHF), LF/HF ratio, and normalized coherence (NCoh), were analyzed. Anxiety was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).Results: Heart rate did not differ between rest and musical sessions. In contrast, significant changes were observed in HRV parameters, particularly in the frequency domain. Compared with rest, nLF and LF/HF increased, and nHF decreased during all musical sessions, with more pronounced effects in males. Differences between musical genres were limited, whereas sex-related differences were consistent across sessions. rMSSD and HF were strongly correlated in all conditions except Jazz in males. LF/HF correlated directly with nLF and NCoh and inversely with nHF. Conclusion: Music modulates cardiac autonomic balance without altering heart rate. Autonomic responses are predominantly sex-dependent rather than genre-dependent, underscoring the importance of sex-specific analysis in studies investigating music-induced autonomic modulation.
Shooting impairment may occur whereas there is either central or peripherical fatigue. However, the effects of different physical stressor stimuli on fine motor skills as shooting are yet not fully understood. The present research aimed to analyze the effect of endurance and resisted physical stressors on the psychophysiological response and pistol marksmanship of novel soldiers, and the possible differences in gender and BMI. Variables of heart rate, isometric hand strength, rate of perceived exertion, and pistol marksmanship were analyzed in 56 soldiers in endurance and resisted stress protocols. Isometric hand strength, heart rate, and RPE were significantly higher in both resisted and endurance physical stress protocols than in the basal sample. Gender differences were seen in strength, cardiovascular and RPE values. Also, subjects with larger BMI presented significantly higher isometric hand strength and higher marksmanship in all moments evaluated. We conclude that an endurance stress protocol produced a higher cardiovascular and perceived exertion than a resisted one, not affecting hand strength, shooting heart rate, and marksmanship. Females presented lower hand strength and marksmanship while higher rated of perceived exertion and heart rate during the endurance and resisted stress protocols than males. Overweight participants presented higher heart rates during both physical stress protocols, but higher hand strength and marksmanship while similar shooting heart rates than normal-weight participants.
