Systems and methods for coordinating musculoskeletal and cardiovascular or cerebrovascular hemodynamics

A system for favorably coordinating a rhythmic musculoskeletal activity cycle (MSKC) of a user with a cardiac cycle (CC) of the user, the system comprising:

• a prompt device, wherein the prompt device is configured to provide a prompt recurrently to the user for guiding performance of a rhythmic musculoskeletal activity;
• a sensor, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a signal correlating to a cyclically-varying arterial blood volume in a tissue of the user;
• and
• a processor, coupled to the prompt device and the sensor, wherein the processor is configured to:
• identify and measure a characteristic of the signal, which varies with a timing relationship between the MSKC and the CC of the user,
• compute a trend of the measured characteristic over time, and
• adjust the prompt based on the trend of the measured characteristic, wherein the prompt is adjusted such that the measured characteristic approaches a relative preferred value corresponding to a more favorable timing relationship between the MSKC and the CC of the user.