The issue of glycaemia and heart rate variability of flight crew during emergency situations using HRV corsense elite

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to research the issue of glycaemia and heart rate variability (HRV) of flight crew, while these physiological processes are investigated during emergency and abnormal situations on the flight simulator. Stressful situations, which pose dangerous emergency situations for pilots during the flight, raise blood sugar level to ensure the brain has enough glucose during stressful situations. The attention is also given to assessing the effect of fasting blood glucose on flight crew performance, stress and heart rate variability. We try to focus on the overall evaluation of the impact of the above physiological processes during flights in which selected emergencies occurred in order to increase the level of stress hormone – cortisol, which is produced during workload and stress. The autonomic nervous system and its parasympathetic and sympathetic branches affect the heart functioning and its activity. The methods used to measure blood glucose and heart rate variability are non invasive methods of measurement. The survey compares the results of measurements from samples of ten pilots studying the field of professional pilot. As proper eating habits are important for safe flight, we are trying to find out how the absence of food for at least 12 hours can affect pilot’s performance as well as heart rate variability in the research.