CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 92Sleep and related disordersHeart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlMindfulness and Compassion Interventions

Influence of a 30-day slow paced breathing intervention compared to social media use on subjective sleep quality and cardiac vagal activity

Open access
Laborde, Sylvain, Hosang, Thomas, Mosley, Emma, Dosseville, Fabrice·2019·Journal of Clinical Medicine
DOI 10.3390/jcm8020193PMC PMC6406675
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

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.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/jcm8020193

Cites

14 of 14 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The small increase in RMSSD found for AFTER-INT could reflect functional changes occurring via repeated stimulation of vagus nerve afferents, which might then be reflected in a chronic increase in vagus nerve efferents.

    “The small increase in RMSSD found for AFTER-INT could reflect functional changes occurring via repeated stimulation of vagus nerve afferents, which might then be reflected in a chronic increase in vagus nerve efferents (Laborde, Hosang, Mosley, & Dosseville, 2019).”

    From Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Laborde, Hosang, Mosley, & Dosseville, 2019

    The Introduction and Discussion (pages unavailable) say slow-paced breathing is thought to increase vagal afferent activity and report increased cardiac vagal activity after a 30-day intervention. They do not establish that repeated afferent stimulation causes a chronic increase in efferent activity. The study measured cardiac vagal activity using high-frequency heart-rate variability, not RMSSD. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 37

  1. [1]Ferrie J.E. Kumari M. Salo P. Singh-Manoux A. Kivimaki M. Sleep epidemiology—A rapidly growing field Int. J. Epidemiol. 2011 40 1431 1437 10.1093/ije/dyr203 22158659 PMC3655374 · DOI
  2. [2]Bertisch S.M. Wells R.E. Smith M.T. McCarthy E.P. Use of Relaxation Techniques and Complementary and Alternative Medicine by American Adults with Insomnia Symptoms: Results from a National Survey J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2012 8 681 691 10.5664/jcsm.2264 23243402 PMC3501665 · DOI
  3. [4]Malik M. Heart rate variability. Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology Eur. Heart J. 1996 17 354 381 10.1093/oxfordjournals.eurheartj.a014868 8737210 · DOI · Paper page
  4. [6]Bonnet M.H. Burton G.G. Arand D.L. Physiological and medical findings in insomnia: Implications for diagnosis and care Sleep Med. Rev. 2014 18 111 122 10.1016/j.smrv.2013.02.003 23751272 · DOI
  5. [8]Friedman B.H. An autonomic flexibility-neurovisceral integration model of anxiety and cardiac vagal tone Biol. Psychol. 2007 74 185 199 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2005.08.009 17069959 · DOI · Paper page
  6. [9]Prendiville E. Neurobiology for psychotherapists Creative Psychotherapy Prendiville E. Howard J. Routledge London, UK 2016
  7. [12]Lehrer P.M. Gevirtz R. Heart rate variability biofeedback: How and why does it work? Front. Psychol. 2014 5 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00756 25101026 PMC4104929 · DOI · Paper page
  8. [14]Tortora G.J. Derrickson B.H. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ, USA 2014
  9. [16]Laborde S. Allen M.S. Gohring N. Dosseville F. The effect of slow-paced breathing on stress management in adolescents with intellectual disability J. Intellect. Disabil. Res. 2017 61 560 567 10.1111/jir.12350 27933677 · DOI
  10. [17]Allen B. Friedman B.H. Positive emotion reduces dyspnea during slow paced breathing Psychophysiology 2012 49 690 696 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01344.x 22292794 · DOI
  11. [18]Strauss-Blasche G. Moser M. Voica M. McLeod D.R. Klammer N. Marktl W. Relative timing of inspiration and expiration affects respiratory sinus arrhythmia Clin. Exp Pharm. Physiol 2000 27 601 606 10.1046/j.1440-1681.2000.03306.x 10901389 · DOI · Paper page
  12. [19]Yasuma F. Hayano J. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia: Why Does the Heartbeat Synchronize with Respiratory Rhythm? Chest 2004 125 683 690 10.1378/chest.125.2.683 14769752 · DOI · Paper page
  13. [20]Lehrer P.M. How Does Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Work? Resonance, the Baroreflex, and Other Mechanisms Biofeedback 2013 41 26 31 10.5298/1081-5937-41.1.02 · DOI
  14. [21]Vaschillo E.G. Lehrer P. Rishe N. Konstantinov M. Heart rate variability biofeedback as a method for assessing baroreflex function: A preliminary study of resonance in the cardiovascular system Appl. Psychophysiol. Biofeedback 2002 27 1 27 10.1023/A:1014587304314 12001882 · DOI
  15. [22]Vaschillo E.G. Vaschillo B. Lehrer P.M. Characteristics of resonance in heart rate variability stimulated by biofeedback Appl. Psychophysiol. Biofeedback 2006 31 129 142 10.1007/s10484-006-9009-3 16838124 · DOI
  16. [28]Laborde S. Mosley E. Mertgen A. Vagal Tank Theory: The Three Rs of Cardiac Vagal Control Functioning—Resting, Reactivity, and Recovery Front. Neurosci. 2018 12 10.3389/fnins.2018.00458 30042653 PMC6048243 · DOI
  17. [29]Laborde S. Mosley E. Mertgen A. A unifying conceptual framework of factors associated to cardiac vagal control Helyion 2018 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01002 30623126 PMC6313821 · DOI
  18. [30]Fatisson J. Oswald V. Lalonde F. Influence diagram of physiological and environmental factors affecting heart rate variability: An extended literature overview Heart Int. 2016 11 e32 e40 10.5301/heartint.5000232 27924215 PMC5056628 · DOI
  19. [31]Wells R. Outhred T. Heathers J.A. Quintana D.S. Kemp A.H. Matter over mind: A randomised-controlled trial of single-session biofeedback training on performance anxiety and heart rate variability in musicians PLoS ONE 2012 7 e46597 10.1371/journal.pone.0046597 23056361 PMC3464298 · DOI
  20. [32]Stein P.K. Pu Y. Heart rate variability, sleep and sleep disorders Sleep Med. Rev. 2012 16 47 66 10.1016/j.smrv.2011.02.005 21658979 · DOI
  21. [33]Burton A.R. Rahman K. Kadota Y. Lloyd A. Vollmer-Conna U. Reduced heart rate variability predicts poor sleep quality in a case-control study of chronic fatigue syndrome Exp. Brain Res. 2010 204 71 78 10.1007/s00221-010-2296-1 20502886 · DOI
  22. [34]Yang A.C. Tsai S.-J. Yang C.-H. Kuo C.-H. Chen T.-J. Hong C.-J. Reduced physiologic complexity is associated with poor sleep in patients with major depression and primary insomnia J. Affect. Disord. 2011 131 179 185 10.1016/j.jad.2010.11.030 21195485 · DOI
  23. [35]Patel V. Giesebrecht S. Burton A.R. Cvejic E. Lemon J. Hadzi-Pavlovic D. Dain S. Lloyd A. Vollmer-Conna U. Reliability revisited: Autonomic responses in the context of everyday well-being Int. J. Cardiol. 2013 166 743 745 10.1016/j.ijcard.2012.09.177 23103137 · DOI
  24. [37]Werner G.G. Ford B.Q. Mauss I.B. Schabus M. Blechert J. Wilhelm F.H. High cardiac vagal control is related to better subjective and objective sleep quality Biol. Psychol. 2015 106C 79 85 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.02.004 25709072 PMC4364614 · DOI
  25. [38]Tobaldini E. Nobili L. Strada S. Casali K.R. Braghiroli A. Montano N. Heart rate variability in normal and pathological sleep Front. Physiol. 2013 4 294 10.3389/fphys.2013.00294 24137133 PMC3797399 · DOI
  26. [39]Buchheit M. Simon C. Piquard F. Ehrhart J. Brandenberger G. Effects of increased training load on vagal-related indexes of heart rate variability: A novel sleep approach Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 2004 287 H2813 H2818 10.1152/ajpheart.00490.2004 15308479 · DOI
  27. [40]Buchheit M. Simon C. Charloux A. Doutreleau S. Piquard F. Brandenberger G. Relationship between very high physical activity energy expenditure, heart rate variability and self-estimate of health status in middle-aged individuals Int. J. Sports Med. 2006 27 697 701 10.1055/s-2005-872929 16944398 · DOI
  28. [41]Flatt A.A. Esco M.R. Nakamura F.Y. Association between Subjective Indicators of Recovery Status and Heart Rate Variability among Divison-1 Sprint-Swimmers Sports 2018 6 10.3390/sports6030093 PMC6162498 30208575 · DOI
  29. [42]Tsai H.J. Kuo T.B. Lee G.S. Yang C.C. Efficacy of paced breathing for insomnia: Enhances vagal activity and improves sleep quality Psychophysiology 2015 52 388 396 10.1111/psyp.12333 25234581 · DOI
  30. [44]Buysse D.J. Reynolds C.F. 3rd Monk T.H. Berman S.R. Kupfer D.J. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research Psychiatry Res. 1989 28 193 213 10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4 2748771 · DOI · Paper page
  31. [46]Kryger M. Roth T. Dement W.C. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine 6th ed. Elsevier Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2017
  32. [47]Krystal A.D. Edinger J.D. Measuring sleep quality Sleep Med. 2008 9 S10 S17 10.1016/S1389-9457(08)70011-X 18929313 · DOI · Paper page
  33. [48]Brandenberger G. Buchheit M. Ehrhart J. Simon C. Piquard F. Is slow wave sleep an appropriate recording condition for heart rate variability analysis? Auton. Neurosci. 2005 121 81 86 10.1016/j.autneu.2005.06.002 16005265 · DOI
  34. [49]Herzig D. Eser P. Omlin X. Riener R. Wilhelm M. Achermann P. Reproducibility of Heart Rate Variability Is Parameter and Sleep Stage Dependent Front. Physiol. 2017 8 1100 10.3389/fphys.2017.01100 29367845 PMC5767731 · DOI
  35. [50]Herzig D. Testorelli M. Olstad D.S. Erlacher D. Achermann P. Eser P. Wilhelm M. Heart-Rate Variability During Deep Sleep in World-Class Alpine Skiers: A Time-Efficient Alternative to Morning Supine Measurements Int. J. Sports Physiol. Perform. 2017 12 648 654 10.1123/ijspp.2016-0257 27768512 · DOI
  36. [51]LeBourgeois M.K. Hale L. Chang A.M. Akacem L.D. Montgomery-Downs H.E. Buxton O.M. Digital Media and Sleep in Childhood and Adolescence Pediatrics 2017 140 S92 S96 10.1542/peds.2016-1758J 29093040 PMC5658795 · DOI · Paper page
  37. [53]Levenson J.C. Shensa A. Sidani J.E. Colditz J.B. Primack B.A. Social Media Use Before Bed and Sleep Disturbance among Young Adults in the United States: A Nationally Representative Study Sleep 2017 40 10.1093/sleep/zsx113 PMC8205627 28934521 · DOI · Paper page

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Laborde, S., Hosang, T., Mosley, E., & Dosseville, F.
Affiliations
  • German Sport University Cologne (DE)
  • Helmut Schmidt University (DE)
  • Southampton Solent University (GB)
  • Université de Caen Normandie (FR)
Corresponding author
Laborde, Sylvain
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2019-02-06
Volume
8
Issue
2
Pages
193
ISSN
2077-0383 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/jcm8020193
PMC
PMC6406675
OpenAlex
W2912265554
Cited by
92
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 1
FWCI
12.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Solent University Research Portal (Solent University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University) (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln (HIFF 920157)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
Keywords
slow-paced breathing, breathing exercises, social media use, subjective sleep quality, cardiac vagal activity, heart rate variability, relaxation techniques, mobile application, sleep, cardiovascular function, young adults

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review