No abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with positive physiological and psychological effects. HRV is affected by breathing parameters, yet, debate remains regarding the best breathing interventions for strengthening HRV. The objective of the current study was to test whether the inclusion of a post-exhalation rest period was effective at increasing HRV, while controlling for breathing rate. A within-subjects crossover design was used with 40 participants who were assigned randomly to a breathing pattern including a post-exhalation rest period or a breathing pattern that omitted the post exhalation rest period. Participants completed training on each breathing pattern, practiced for six minutes, and sat quietly during a five-minute washout period between practices. Participants were given instructions for diaphragmatic breathing (DB) at a pace of six breaths/minute with or without a post-exhalation rest period. Recordings of heart rate, breathing rate, HF-HRV, RMSSD, LF-HRV, SDNN were collected before and during each of the breathing trials. HRV indices were derived from Lead one ECG recordings. Pairwise contrasts showed inclusion of a post-exhalation rest period significantly decreased heart rate (p < .001) and increased HF-HRV (p < .05). No differences were found for breathing rates (p > .05), RMSSD (p > .05), and SDNN (p > .05). Results indicted omission of the post-exhalation rest period resulted in higher LF-HRV (p < .05). A post-exhalation rest period improves HF-HRV, commonly associated with self-regulatory control, yet a post-exhalation rest period’s importance requires further exploration.

Evidence indicates that activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) suppresses physiological responses associated with motion sickness. Research also shows paced breathing increases PNS activation; the current study examines the use of paced diaphragmatic breathing (DB) training to quell motion sickness symptoms. Healthy participants (N = 60) were pre-screened for motion sickness susceptibility. Participants were then randomly assigned to either a control condition, focusing on environmental awareness, or to an experimental condition implementing paced DB. Following this, participants were exposed to a virtual reality (VR) motion sickness experience, while heart rate variability, breathing rate (RPM), and motion sickness ratings were collected. Results demonstrated participants in the DB condition had higher PNS activation and reported fewer motion sickness symptoms during the VR experience than the participants in the control condition. Results suggest that the DB protocol can be used to significantly increase PNS tone and decrease the development of motion sickness symptoms.

Word2Vec and graph representations improved the accuracy of classifying portal messages compared to features that lacked semantic information such as bag of words, and bag of phrases. Furthermore, using Word2Vec along with a CNN model, which provide a higher order representation, improved the classification of portal messages.

Results indicate possible benefits of using slow DB techniques in a motion sickness inducing environment.