Psychological and Physiological Effects of Different Objects of Breath Meditation

Psychological Stress Clinical Trial

Official title: Psychological and Physiological Effects of Different Objects of Breath Meditation

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

Clinical Trial 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. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emotions
• Physiological Stress
• Psychological Stress
• Stress, Psychological

• NCT number: NCT06051500
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 20, 2023
• Completion date: May 2, 2024