For the cases of spontaneous respiration and paced respiration with a fixed frequency and linearly increasing frequency, we investigate synchronization between three main rhythmic processes governing the cardiovascular dynamics in humans, namely, the main heart rhythm, respiration, and the process whose fundamental frequency is close to 0.1 Hz. The analysis of the experimental records reveals synchronous regimes of different orders $n:m$ between all the three main rhythms. The influence of the regime of breathing and the magnitude of heart rate variability on the degree of synchronization is considered.

• Received 7 May 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.68.041913