A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that a breathing technique could ease stress levels of healthcare workers in long-term care facilities. Participants practiced Coherent Breathing, a tool that synchronizes the heart rate and breathing. This type of breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system to combat the sympathetic nervous system, which physically calms the body. The breathing technique can lower heart rate and blood pressure. Study authors said, “Our findings suggest that coherent breathing may be a useful strategy to improve stress, mental health, physical health and quality of work-life outcomes in LTC staff.”
Methodology: Researchers conducted a pre–post intervention study to evaluate a self-managed coherent breathing intervention from February to September 2022. The intervention included basic (breathing only) and comprehensive (breathing plus a biofeedback device) groups. Six hundred eighty-six participants were initially recruited (359 and 327 in the comprehensive and basic groups respectively) from 31 LTC homes in Alberta, Canada. Two hundred fifty-four participants completed pre-and post-intervention questionnaires (142 [55.9%] in comprehensive and 112 [44.1%] in basic). Participants were asked to use coherent breathing based on a schedule increasing from 2 to 10 min daily, 5 to 7 times a week over 8 weeks. Participants completed self-administered online questionnaires pre- and post-intervention to assess outcomes—stress, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, resilience, insomnia, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout. The research team used a mixed-effects regression model.
