A TERMINAL DYNAMICS MODEL OF THE HEARTBEAT

It is widely assumed that heartbeat dynamics are chaotic, although the re has been no evidence confirming such an opinion, and some evidence to the contrary. Additionally, the deterministic assumptions of such d ynamics cannot be demonstrated. An alternative model is presented base d upon the notion of terminal dynamics, which can more faithfully repr esent key features of the heartbeat: namely, piecewise determinism, an d singular points between beats, which allow for adaptability while ma intaining stability.