"The faster the heart rate at rest, the higher the inflammation in the body and the lower the immunity"

Oct 18, 2024

A graph showing heart rate and NK cell activity at rest

A research team at the Detox Sleeping Center, Chaum (Director Lee Dong-mo), has published a study showing that heart rate is related to immunity when stabilized.

Professor Chaum Oh Hyo-joo (first author), Professor Lee Yoon-kyung (corresponding author), and Professor Seo Eun-kyung (corresponding author), Professor Cho Baek-hwan (corresponding author) of the AI Healthcare Convergence Department at Cha Medical University, Professor Moon Joon-hyung of the School of Information Medicine at Cha Medical University, and Professor Cho A-ra of Gangnam Severance Hospital analyzed the relationship between NK cell (immune cell) activity, heart rate (pulse), stress hormone cortisol, metabolic disease and inflammation-related indicators (relaxation blood pressure, inflammation level, insulin resistance) in 7,500 adult men and women.

At rest, metabolic disease and inflammatory indicators, NK cell activity, etc. were observed after classifying them into four groups (≤60 bpm, 60-70 bpm, 70-80 bpm, and ≥80 bpm.) according to heart rate. As a result, when the heart rate was high at rest, metabolic disease and inflammation-related indicators were high, and the relatively fast (70-80 bpm, ≥80 bpm) group at rest tended to have lower NK cell activity than the low (≤60 bpm) group. This means that the faster the heart rate at rest, the higher the body's inflammatory index and the higher the proportion of patients with low immunity.

Professor Chaum Oh Hyo-joo "Large-scale studies have confirmed that heart rate at rest can be an important indicator of immune function. Thanks to the analysis of the effect of cortisol on heart rate, we also confirmed the need to control stress, alcohol, and caffeine intake.

Professor Chaum Lee Yun-kyung identified the need to check and manage immunity when there is an increase in heart rate or blood pressure during sudden stabilization, even if there is no high fever or inflammatory response"As many people use smartwatches, monitoring their usual resting heart rate can help manage immunity."

The findings were recently published in the international journal Frontiers in Immunology.