Benefits from one session of deep and slow breathing on vagal tone and anxiety in young and older adults

Valentin Magnon,Frédéric Dutheil,Guillaume T Vallet

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98736-9

Abstract

Anxiety is recognized as a major health issue and is quite prevalent among older adults. An efficient way to manage anxiety is abdominal breathing. Breathing exercises seem to reduce anxiety and to increase parasympathetic activity assessed by HRV indexes. Yet, the effect of abdominal breathing on physiological stress (HRV) and anxiety in older adults remains poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study is to test the effects of deep and slow breathing (DSB, low inhale/exhale ratio) on physiological stress and anxiety in older adults (n = 22) in comparison with younger ones (n = 25). DSB increased significantly HFpower and reduced state anxiety in both younger and older adults. Interestingly, the increased in HF power was significantly higher among older adults than younger ones. As expected, the ratio inhale/exhale being not equal, RMSSD did not increase following DSB. Thus, we provide evidence suggesting that DSB is more beneficial to older adults than younger ones to restore vagal outflow. Despite future work being required, those results provide relevant clinical application leads to manage state anxiety among older adults and to promote successfull aging.

Highlights

Anxiety is recognized as a major health issue and is quite prevalent among older adults
Since heart rate variability (HRV) reflects the activity of the autonomic nervous system, it is often used to reliably assess the physiological stress response[26] and can be a powerful tool for testing the effect of relaxation techniques based on breathing
Posthoc analyses revealed no significant difference between younger adults ( Mpre = 29.97, SDpre = 13.39 ) and older ones ( Mpre = 31.01, SDpre = 10.81 ) in pre-test high frequency (HF) power ( M = −1.04, 95% CI[−7.72, 5.64],t(53) = −0.31, p = .756 ), whereas a significant difference was revealed at post-test ( M = −16.62, 95% CI [−30.62, −2.62], t(49) = −2.39, p = .021 ) showing a higher

Summary

Introduction

Anxiety is recognized as a major health issue and is quite prevalent among older adults. The aim of this study is to test the effects of deep and slow breathing (DSB, low inhale/exhale ratio) on physiological stress and anxiety in older adults (n = 22) in comparison with younger ones (n = 25). In the case of anxiety, it might be preferable to reinforce the parasympathetic activity beyond the point of equilibrium in order to maximize r elaxation[32] This aim could be achieved by using deep and slow breathing (DSB), a method characterized by a longer exhale than inhale duration. Surprisingly, no study to date has tested the effects of DSB (i.e., exhalation longer than inhalation) on physiological stress and perceived state anxiety among older adults. Older adults should still benefit from DSB, albeit to a lesser extent than younger adults

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