Didgeridoo Sound Meditation for Stress Reduction and Mood Enhancement in Undergraduates: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Silence and its effects on the autonomic nervous system: A systematic review

This systematic review explores the influence of silence on the autonomic nervous system. The Polyvagal Theory has been used as a reference model to describe the autonomic nervous system by explaining its role in emotional regulation, social engagement, and adaptive physiological responses. PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, EMBASE, and Google Scholar were systematically searched up until July 2023 for relevant studies. The literature search yielded 511 results, and 37 studies were eventually included in this review. Silence affects the autonomic nervous system differently based on whether it is inner or outer silence. Inner silence enhances activity of the ventral vagus, favoring social engagement, and reducing sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological stress. Outer silence, conversely, can induce a heightened state of alertness, potentially triggering vagal brake removal and sympathetic nervous system activation, though with training, it can foster inner silence, preventing such activation. The autonomic nervous system response to silence can also be influenced by other factors such as context, familiarity with silence, presence and quality of outer noise, and empathy.

The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Breathing and Music Therapy Practice on Nurses' Stress, Work-Related Strain, and Psychological Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Infectious diseases cause psychological problems for health care workers and especially nurses. Nurses who provided coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients with care experience negative feelings such as stress, work-related strain, discomfort, and helplessness related to their high-intensity work. The aims of this study are to investigate the effect of the mindfulness-based breathing and music therapy practice on stress, work-related strain, and psychological well-being levels of nurses who provided COVID-19 patients with care. This randomized controlled trial was conducted in a COVID-19 department at a university hospital in Turkey. Nurses who care for patients infected with COVID-19 were randomly divided into an intervention group (n = 52) and a no-treatment control group (n = 52). The intervention group received mindfulness-based breathing and music therapy. In data collection, the Personal Information Form, State Anxiety Inventory, Work-Related Strain Scale, and Psychological Well-Being Scale were used. The data from the study showed that mindfulness-based breathing and music therapy decreased stress and work-related strain (P < .05) and increased psychological well-being (P < .05). The control group showed no statistically significant changes on these measures (P > .05). The mindfulness-based breathing and music therapy practice reduced nurses' stress and work-related strain and increased psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Job stress and resilience in Iranian nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case-control study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a wide range of sociocultural pressures on nurses. Resilience is defined as one's ability to adapt to an unpredictable situation and it can be a factor in accepting an undesirable psychosocial situation.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to examine resilience in nurses in the face of job stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

The study was carried out as a case-control study with participation of 400 nurses as the target group (nurses exposed to COVID-19 patients) and the control group (nurses not exposed to COVID-19 patients). To examine resilience and job stress, Conor and Davidson's questionnaire and OSIPOW questionnaire were used respectively.

RESULTS

The mean scores of job stress and resilience were significantly different between the target and control groups (p < 0.05). So that resilience in the target group was less than that in the control group. In addition, job stress in the target group was higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). There was a significant and negative correlation between resilience and job stress and the correlation was stronger in the target group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Given the high job stress score in the participants and its negative correlation with resilience, there is need to provide the health personnel with efficient preventive and treatment approaches, improve and educate the principles of resilience, improve mental health services system, and introduce programs to control some of demographical factors in job stress such as physical activity, and employment status of nurses.

Comparing the Psychological Effects of Meditation- and Breathing-Focused Yoga Practice in Undergraduate Students

Objectives

The present study aimed to compare the psychological effects of meditation- and breathing-focused yoga practice in undergraduate students.

Methods

A 12-weeks yoga intervention was conducted among a group of undergraduate students enrolled in four yoga classes at an academically prestigious university in Beijing, China. Four classes were randomized to meditation-focused yoga or breathing-focused yoga. A total of 86 participants finished surveys before and after the 12-weeks intervention, measuring work intention, mindfulness, and perceived stress. The repeated-measure multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) followed by univariate analyses were conducted to examine the differences in work intention, mindfulness, and stress between the two yoga intervention groups over the semester, after controlling for age and gender.

Results

The repeated-measure MANCOVA revealed significant group differences with a median effect size [Wilks' lambda, Λ = 0.90, F(3, 80) = 3.10, p = 0.031, η² = 0.104]. Subsequent univariate analyses showed that students in the breathing-focused yoga group had significant higher work intentions [F _{(1, 82)} = 5.22; p = 0.025; η² _p = 0.060] and mindfulness [F _{(1, 82)} = 6.33; p = 0.014; η² _p = 0.072] but marginally lower stress [F _{(1, 82)} = 4.20; p = 0.044; η² _p = 0.049] than students in the meditation-focused yoga group.

Conclusion

Yoga practice with a focus on breathing is more effective than that with a focus on meditation for undergraduates to retain energy for work, keep attention and awareness, and reduce stress.

Eastern Integrative Medicine and Ancient Sound Healing Treatments for Stress: Recent Research Advances

Eastern integrative medicine includes centuries-old practices and treatments which have quite recently garnered significant attention in Western society. Numerous traditional medicine techniques such as yoga, sound healing, Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan, and acupuncture have recently been studied in relation to their potential for reduction of human chronic stress, a widespread societal health problem. These ancient treatments present considerable potential for stress reduction globally. Thus, the present authors recommend that substantial resources be devoted to the study of these practices as potential tools for stress reduction and improvement in public health.