Immersive virtual reality and its influence on physiological parameters in healthy people

Abstract

Exergames is booming recent times, as they are motivating and promote physical exercise and healthy lifestyle habits. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) exercise programs could be compared to traditional training programs. A starting point for this would be to explore the physiological responses that can be generated by its use. Therefore, the main objective was to evaluate the response across certain physiological indicators (heart rate, blood pressure and stress) after an IVR exergame exposure in a sample of healthy adults, and secondarily to explore its feasibility, safety and usability as a tool to facilitate physical exercise. 37 healthy adults (22-54 years, 54.1% women) participated in the study. They carried out one exergaming session with the HTC Vive ProTM hardware. All participants completed the IVR session without significant adverse effects. All physiological parameters evaluated increased significantly in relation to pre-intervention levels. Regarding to secondary outcomes, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) corresponded to a moderate to intense exercise (6.3±0.5/10 on the CR10 Borg Scale), the intervention was considered safe (1/37 reported a moderate stomach awareness in Simulator Sickness Questionnaire), with good usability (>76% in System Usability Scale), positively valued by the sample (0.05/4 negative experience scores in Game Experience Questionnaire-post game), and 100% of the sample reported a good or very good experience and would recommend it. These findings support that our IVR exergame session was feasible and can be compared to a moderate to intense physical activity, as it involved similar RPE with significant increases in heart rate, blood pressure and salivary cortisol levels.