Effects of High Ventilation Breathwork With Retention (HVBR) on Health
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
The investigators are conducting a randomised-controlled trial comparing high ventilation breathwork with retention (HVBR) to a breathwork placebo (paced breathing at 15breaths/min with brief retentions). The metric of 15b/min aligns with guidance from the British Journal of Nursing, Royal College of Physicians and Johns Hopkins Medicine which state that the average, healthy rate should range from: 12-20, 12-18 and 12-16b/min, respectively. The main questions the study attempts to address are: Does HVBR lead to improved state and trait mental health and wellbeing in a general population adult sample?
The study will be conducted entirely online through the research platform Prolific, so participant data will be anonymous. The investigators will collect self-reports of mental health and wellbeing before and after the three-week breathwork period, in addition to a follow-up three weeks later. Pre-post intervention and follow-up questionnaires will be completed online via the survey platform Qualtrics which will be linked to Prolific. Data on self-reported adherence to, and credibility/expectancy of, the breathwork will also be collected, along with participants' experiences to gauge the safety and tolerability of the breathwork protocol.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: High ventilation breathwork with retention (HVBR) Guided audio of HVBR pre-recorded by a trained breathwork facilitator for ~20min/day over 21 days (three weeks). Delivered remotely through audio link, comprising evocative music and four rounds of hyperventilation with four separate retentions (breath holds), progressively increasing in length (from ~45seconds up to ~90 seconds). |
Behavioral: High ventilation breathwork with retention (HVBR)
Intervention
|
| Placebo Comparator: Placebo HVBR Guided audio of placebo HVBR pre-recorded by a trained breathwork facilitator for ~20min/day over 21 days (three weeks). Delivered remotely through audio link, comprising music and four rounds of paced breathing at 15b/min (equal inhale:exhale) with four separate brief retentions, progressively increasing in length (from ~10secs to ~25secs). |
Behavioral: Placebo HVBR
Placebo
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Subjective stress [Pre-post intervention and follow-up (immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention). Primary timepoint is post-intervention]
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) - stress subscale (score range: 0-21; higher scores denote worse outcome). Score on DASS-21 then multiplied by two to convert it to the longer form DASS-42 final score
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Subjective anxiety [Pre-post intervention and follow-up (immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention)]
DASS-21 - anxiety subscale (score range: 0-21; higher scores denote worse outcome)
- Subjective depressive symptoms [Pre-post intervention and follow-up (immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention)]
DASS-21 - depression subscale (score range: 0-21; higher scores denote worse outcome)
- Subjective mental wellbeing [Pre-post intervention and follow-up (immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention)]
Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) (score range: 7 to 35; higher scores denote better outcome). Total raw scores are then transformed into metric scores using the SWEMWBS conversion table on: www.warwick.ac.uk
- Subjective sleep-related impairment [Pre-post intervention and follow-up (immediately before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention)]
PROMIS Item Bank v. 1.0 - Sleep-Related Impairment - Short Form 4a (score range: 5-20; higher scores denote worse outcome). Data scored using a T-score transformation according to PROMIS Sleep scoring manual on: www.healthmeasures.net
- Subjective positive affect [Pre-intervention (immediately before the intervention), post first breathwork session (immediately after starting breathwork), and post-intervention (immediately after the intervention)]
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) positive affect subscale (score range: 10-50; higher scores denote better outcome)
- Subjective negative affect [Pre-intervention (immediately before the intervention), post first breathwork session (immediately after starting breathwork), and post-intervention (immediately after the intervention)]
PANAS negative affect subscale (score range: 10-50; higher scores denote worse outcome)
- Subjective credibility and expectancy of protocol [Immediately after starting breathwork intervention]
Credibility/Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ-6). Two Sets (Credibility of course/therapy [breathwork] and expectancy of course/therapy [breathwork]). Four items scored 1-9 and two items scored 0-100%. Scores for expectancy set then standardised via converting them to z-scores. Higher scores denote greater credibility and/or expectancy of specific breathwork technique
- Negative side effects due to protocol [Post-intervention (immediately after the intervention)]
Whether participants experienced unpleasant/unwanted short-term effects and/or lasting bad effects from the breathwork
- Self-reported adherence to protocol [Post-intervention (immediately after the intervention)]
Number of sessions participants self-report practicing out of 21 days assigned
Other Outcome Measures
- Overall experience [Post-intervention and follow-up (immediately after the intervention, and three weeks after the intervention)]
Participants' perspectives and overall experience of the protocol/study-period
- Hypothesis guessing [Follow-up (three weeks after the intervention)]
Whether participants can guess the hypothesis of the study
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria (self-assessed):
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Fluent in English and living in the UK
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Have access to headphones
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Comfortable with faster breathing and holding breath
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Willing to only practice breathwork in safe environment, lying down in soft area (i.e., bed, sofa, carpet/mat), and always away from water & hard ground
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Willing to only practice the breathwork away from large meals (i.e., before or 1hour after) and bedtime (i.e., at least 1 hour before if practicing in evening)
Exclusion Criteria (self-assessed):
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Hypotension or hypertension (low or high blood pressure)
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History of respiratory or cardiovascular/heart problems or disease
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History of fainting or syncope
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Epilepsy or seizures
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History of panic disorder or panic attacks
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Cerebral aneurysm
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Have had problems with prior breathwork sessions (i.e., fainting)
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Pregnancy, think one might be pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or are breastfeeding
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Any problems which affect one's ability to pace their breathing (i.e., active/chronic respiratory infection including blocked nose/cough/cold/fever, etc.), breathlessness, abnormally slow breathing (bradypnea), or abnormally fast breathing (tachypnoea)
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Any other physical/mental health conditions or current life events which impair or affect one's ability to engage in activities involving breath control
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Are taking any regular medication other than the contraceptive pill, including medications to reduce blood pressure (i.e., Ramipril or other ACE-inhibitors), beta blockers (i.e., Propranolol), antidepressants, anxiolytics or any other psychotropic medications
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prolific | Remote/Online | United Kingdom |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- University of Sussex
- Sylff Association
- Brighton & Sussex Medical School
- University of California, San Francisco
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Guy W Fincham, MSc, University of Sussex
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
None provided.- Sussex fast breathwork study