Author: Perciliany Martins de Souza1, Miriam de Cássia Souza1, Luiza Araújo Diniz1, Cássia Regina Vieira Araújo1, Mariana Lopez2, Eliane Volchan3, Orlando Fernandes Jr4, Tiago Arruda Sanchez4, Gabriela Guerra Leal Souza5
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Exact and Biological Sciences, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil.
<sup>2</sup> Graduate Program in Psychology, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
<sup>3</sup> Laboratory of Neurobiology, Carlos Chagas Filho Biophysics Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
<sup>4</sup> Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Psychophysiology, Department of Radiology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
<sup>5</sup> Laboratory of Psychophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Institute of Exact and Biological Sciences, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil. gabriela.souza@ufop.edu.br.
Conference/Journal: Sci Rep
Date published: 2022 Nov 5
Other:
Volume ID: 12 , Issue ID: 1 , Pages: 18795 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-22303-z. , Word Count: 178
To test whether heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training benefits older adults with different social interaction levels.
Methods:
32 older adults (16 were institutionalized and 16 were not). Both groups received 14 sessions, 15 min, 3 times a week, with half of the individuals receiving HRV biofeedback training and the other half receiving control training. The following parameters were assessed immediately before and after training, and 4.5 weeks after the last session (follow-up period): aerobic conditioning, anthropometric data, emotional scores, and HRV components.
Results:
Before the training, the institutionalized individuals had higher scores of loneliness (p < 0.01) and depression (p < 0.0001) and lower social touches (p < 0.0001), body mass (p = 0.04), and body fat percentage (p = 0.002) than the non-institutionalized individuals. HRV biofeedback improved symptoms of depression in both groups. HRV improved only in the non-institutionalized group, and loneliness only in the institutionalized group. Lastly, all changes persisted after the follow-up period.
Conclusions:
HRV biofeedback training was effective in improving symptoms of depression in older adults. Improvement of HRV and loneliness was dependent on the level of social interaction.
PMID: 36335140 PMCID: PMC9637191 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22303-z