Stress Management Program

Summary

This study will test the immediate and long term (post 4 weeks of daily practice) effectiveness of two breathwork practices, cyclic sighing and box breathing, in comparison to hypnosis and an audiobook about stress, on psychological and physiological variables.

Conditions

• Stress
• Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cyclic Sighing Breathing

Participants are instructed to be seated or lying down, and can keep their eyes open or closed throughout the 10 minutes of the breathing practice during the 28 days. Participants are instructed to keep their eyes closed when practicing the 10 minutes of the cyclic sighing during the 2 MRI assessments. The cyclic sighing protocol consists of a breathing pattern that involves inhaling deeply, starting abdominally, inhaling through the nose until lungs feel comfortably filled, immediately followed by a second shorter inhale, also through the nose, to maximally inflate the lungs. Then participants are instructed to slowly exhale through the mouth until their lungs feel empty. This cycle is repeated for 10 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Box Breathing

Participants are instructed to be seated or lying down, and can keep their eyes open or closed throughout the 10 minutes of the breathing during the 28 days. Participants are instructed to keep their eyes closed when practicing the 10 minutes of the box breathing during the 2 MRI assessments. The CO2 tolerance test is done at baseline to determine their comfort level with the duration of each side of the box during box breathing. The box breathing protocol consists of a four-part breathing technique. The practice involves breathing through the nose in four equally timed parts: inhale, hold, exhale, and hold again, forming a 'box' of breaths (e.g. 4 sec inhale, 4 sec hold, 4 sec exhale, 4 sec hold).This cycle is repeated for 10 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Hypnosis

Participants are instructed to sit comfortably or lie down during the 28 day at home practice (Participants will be lying down in the scanner during the 2 MRIs). Then participants are asked to look up, slowly close their eyes, take a deep breath, slowly exhale, and let their body float, and then to imagine floating in a bath, a lake, a hot tub, or floating in space. Participants are then asked to picture an imaginary screen and visualize a place where it would naturally feel comfortable and relaxed. The participants then divide the screen in half and picture on the left side one thing that is causing them stress, with the rule that no matter what the participant picture, to keep their body comfortable and relaxed. Then on the right side of the screen the participants are asked to picture one thing that can be done about the problem on the left. At the end the participant will be guided to come out of the state of hypnosis. This exercise will take 10 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Audiobook

Participants are instructed to be seated or lying down, and can keep eyes open or closed throughout the 10 minutes of listening to the audiobook during the 28 days. Participants are instructed to keep their eyes closed during the 2 MRI assessments.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Stanford University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David Spiegel, MD · Stanford University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-03-12

Primary Completion

2026-06-30

Completion

2026-12-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations