MedTrace Logo

Relaxation Effects of Personalized Breathing Exercises for Healthy College Students

NCT06121596 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 42

Last updated 2025-03-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Stress plays a major role in the etiology and pathogenesis of anxiety and depression. Relaxation therapies, such as breathing exercises, can reduce stress and increase relaxation.

This study has two aims. First, it aims to personalize and optimize breathing protocols. Second, it aims to tailor breathing protocols to subgroups based on prediction models of expected efficacy.

Three different breathing protocols, varying solely in their instructed breathing frequency with 40 percent (A), 60 percent (B), and 80 percent (C) of the interindividual spontaneous breathing frequency, are tested in a randomized, counterbalanced crossover trial. Other parameters, such as breathing quality (i.e., nasal and diaphragmatic), rhythm (i.e., prolonged exhalation without instructed pauses) and depth (i.e., increased depth due to slower breathing frequency) as well as contextual factors (e.g., posture, video-based instructions, type of pacer, etc.) are invariant between protocols.

First, this study hypothesizes a difference in the relaxation response between breathing protocols A, B, and C. This study looks at the relaxation response from three different angles (1) self-report, (2) autonomic arousal, and (3) central nervous system arousal. Second, this study explores prediction models of expected efficacy based on the interindividual variance in characteristics (i.e., depressive, anxious and stress symptoms as well as expertise in relaxation therapies) and biomarkers (e.g., heart rate variability, peripheral temperature, skin conductance, etc.). Prediction models can tailor breathing protocols to subgroups to increase expected efficacy.

Conditions

  • Breathing Exercises

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Breathing Exercise

A breathing exercise is a relaxation technique (or therapy) to increase relaxation (induces a relaxation response) and decrease stress (reduces a stress response).

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Technical University of Munich

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Lukas Moebus, M.Sc. · Technical University of Munich

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-07-31
Primary Completion
2023-11-27
Completion
2023-11-27

Countries

  • Germany

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06121596 on ClinicalTrials.gov