Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Sep 16, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 20, 2018 - Sep 28, 2018
Date Accepted: Oct 22, 2018
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jan 26, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Use of a Biofeedback Breathing App to Augment Poststress Physiological Recovery: Intervention Pilot Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Speed of physiological recovery from stress has been implicated as a marker for cardiovascular disease risk. Stress management programmes that incorporate guided breathing have been shown to moderate the stress response and augment recovery.
Objective:
The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of an app based brief relaxation intervention facilitating augmented physiological recovery (BioBase) for moderating stress recovery in individuals exposed to a brief psychological stressor.
Methods:
Seventy-five participants (n = 44 females) completed a stressor speech task, and were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control, rumination, or an app based relaxation breathing condition (BioBase). Heart rate variability (HRV) was assessed as a measure of autonomic function during: baseline (6-minutes), stress (6-minutes), and recovery (6-minutes).
Results:
There was a significant increase in subjective stress following stress exposure but ratings returned to baseline post recovery in all three groups. There was also a significant decrease in vagally mediated HRV post-stress. During recovery, the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) (P<.001), the Percentage of successive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms (pNN50) (P<.001), and High Frequency (HF) (P<.02) HRV were significantly higher in the BioBase breathing condition relative to the rumination and control condition. There was no difference in HRV values between the rumination and control conditions during recovery.
Conclusions:
It was concluded that app-based relaxed breathing interventions could be effective in reducing cardiovascular disease risk. These results provide additional utility of biofeedback breathing in augmenting physiological recovery from psychological stress.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
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