Influence of a 30-Day Slow-Paced Breathing Intervention Compared to Social Media Use on Subjective Sleep Quality and Cardiac Vagal Activity

Sylvain Laborde (1, 2) , Thomas Hosang (3) , Emma Mosley (4) , Fabrice Dosseville (5)

1 German Sport University Cologne [Germany]
2 CesamS - Centre d'étude sport et actions motrices
3 Helmut Schmidt University, University of the Armed Forces Hamburg
4 Solent University
5 COMETE - Mobilités : Vieillissement, Pathologie, Santé

Breathing techniques are part of traditional relaxation methods; however, their influence on psychophysiological variables related to sleep is still unclear. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of a 30-day slow-paced breathing intervention compared to social media use on subjective sleep quality and cardiac vagal activity (CVA, operationalized via high-frequency heart rate variability). Healthy participants (n = 64, 33 male, 31 female, M = 22.11, SD = 3.12) were randomly allocated to an experimental or control group. In the experimental group, they had to perform slow-paced breathing for 15 min each evening across a 30-day period. This was administered through a smartphone application. The control group used social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp) for the same duration. The night before and after the intervention, their CVA was assessed via a light portable Electrocardiogram (ECG) device, and they had to fill out the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire. Results showed that in comparison to the use of social media, the slow-paced breathing technique improved subjective sleep quality and increased overnight CVA, while a tendency was observed for morning awakening CVA. Slow-paced breathing appears a promising cost-effective technique to improve subjective sleep quality and cardiovascular function during sleep in young healthy individuals.

Mots clés: Parasympathetic nervous system; Cardiac vagal tone; High-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV); Deep breathing; Slow breathing; Cardiac coherence; Vagus nerve; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia; Vagal tank theory; Neurovisceral integration model

Domaines: Psychologie; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Sylvain Laborde, Thomas Hosang, Emma Mosley, Fabrice Dosseville. Influence of a 30-Day Slow-Paced Breathing Intervention Compared to Social Media Use on Subjective Sleep Quality and Cardiac Vagal Activity. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2019, 8 (art. 193 issue 2), 12 p. ⟨10.3390/jcm8020193⟩. ⟨hal-02890226⟩