Psychological and Physiological Effects of Different Objects of Breath Meditation

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Psychological Stress; Physiological Stress; Emotions

Treatments: Behavioral: Nostril focus followed by belly focus; Behavioral: Belly focus followed by nostril focus

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06051500

2023-0749

Protocol Version 06/28/2023 (Other Identifier)

L&S/CTR FOR HEALTHY MINDS (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this research is to test whether certain areas of focus in breath meditation are connected with certain mental health outcomes. The main question to be addressed is whether attention placed on the breath in the belly versus the nostrils during meditation results in differences in subjective experience, respiration and heart rate.

Participants will:

• complete surveys
• have heart rate and respiration measured
• practice focused breathing

Participants can expect the study visit to last for one hour.

Full description

An online prescreen will determine eligibility. Participants that 1) are under 18, 2) are not students currently enrolled at UW-Madison 3) have previous mediation experience 4) obtain a high PROMIS depression or anxiety score, or 5) have been diagnosed with one or more psychiatric disorders by a healthcare professional that will be listed in the pre-screen survey will be excluded.

Participants deemed eligible following prescreen will schedule a lab visit. At the beginning of the lab visit, participants will be provided a consent document and time to ask questions. After signing the consent form, researchers will place ECG leads and a respiration belt on participants, and then complete the baseline survey battery. Participants will then sit at rest for 5 minutes of baseline heart rate and respiration data collection. Next, participants will be randomly assigned in a counterbalanced order to nostril focus first or belly focus first and asked to follow a brief (~5 minute) guided practice. After the practice, participants will complete a second battery of self-reports and then have a 10-minute period of rest/recovery. They will then complete the second practice (~5 minutes) followed by a final survey. The entire session will take about an hour.

Enrollment: 96 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• at least 18 years of age
• student at UW Madison
• no major history of meditation practice

Exclusion criteria

• under 18 years of age
• not currently enrolled at UW Madison
• have previous meditation experience
• Self-reports a mental health diagnosis

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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96 participants in 2 patient groups

Nostril focus followed by belly focus

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be randomly assigned to concentrate on the nostrils first, then the belly second following a period of rest.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Nostril focus followed by belly focus

Belly focus followed by nostril focus

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be randomly assigned to concentrate on the belly first, then the nostrils second following a period of rest.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Belly focus followed by nostril focus