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Psychophysiological Effects of Controlled Respiration and Mindfulness
Not Recruiting
Trial ID: NCT05304000
Purpose
The investigators aim to understand the effectiveness of 3 types of breathwork exercises and
a mindfulness meditation control on improving psychological and physiological measures of
wellbeing. The interventions will be delivered remotely and effects are monitored through
daily surveys and physiological monitoring with WHOOP wristband through a 28-day period. The
information gained will help develop the most effective remote interventions for lowering
stress and improving wellbeing. The study will be run on a healthy general population. The
three breathing conditions were 1) Cyclic Sighing, which emphasizes relatively prolonged
exhalations, 2) Box Breathing, which is equal duration of inhalations, breath retentions,
exhalations and breath retentions, and 3) Cyclic Hyperventilation with Retention, with
longer, more intense inhalations and shorter, passive exhalations. Mindfulness Meditation
practice involved passive attention to breath.
Official Title
Psychophysiological Effects of Controlled Respiration: Noninvasive Relaxation Techniques
Stanford Investigator(s)
David Spiegel
Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor of Medicine
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age ≥ 18
- Not pregnant
- Able to follow basic instruction for prescreen and scheduling
- Compliant with investigator instructions during the consent process and participation
in the study
Exclusion Criteria:
- Age <18
- Pregnant
- Non-English speaking
- Anyone with personality disorders or psychosis such as schizoaffective disorder
- Demonstrates evidence of severe psychiatric disorder in prescreen or email contact (as
judged by Dr. Spiegel)
- Glaucoma
- History of seizures
- Suicidal
- Heart disease (based on PI's clinical judgement, dependent on the severity of the
symptoms)
- Current untreated psychosis, or bipolar disorder, or substance/alcohol
abuse/dependence (based on PI's clinical judgement, dependent on the severity of the
symptoms)
- Any Medical condition that could be exasperated by study participation (based on PI's
clinical judgement)
- Non USA mailing address to receive the WHOOP strap
- Vision or hearing impairment severe enough to interfere with study participation,
Intervention(s):
behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation
behavioral: Cyclic Sighing Breathing
behavioral: Box Breathing
behavioral: Cyclic Hyperventilation with Retention
Not Recruiting
Contact Information
Stanford University
School of Medicine
300 Pasteur Drive
Stanford,
CA
94305