• Hugging a 'breathing' cushion to ease an

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Wed Mar 9 21:30:48 2022
    Hugging a 'breathing' cushion to ease anxiety
    Novel device shows promise in reducing anxiety for stressed students


    Date:
    March 9, 2022
    Source:
    PLOS
    Summary:
    Researchers have developed a huggable, cushion-like device that
    mechanically simulates breathing, and preliminary evidence suggests
    it could help reduce students' pre-test anxiety.



    FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers have developed a huggable, cushion-like device that
    mechanically simulates breathing, and preliminary evidence suggests
    it could help reduce students' pre-test anxiety. Alice Haynes of the
    University of Bristol, U.K., and colleagues present the device and
    findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 9, 2022.


    ========================================================================== Treatments for anxiety disorders primarily include therapy and
    medications.

    However, these can be costly, and medications may have unwanted side
    effects.

    At-home anxiety aids could complement treatments for anxiety disorders and
    also benefit people experiencing temporary anxiety. Within this category,
    a small but growing body of research highlights the anxiety-reducing
    potential of touch-based devices, such as TouchPoints wearables and Paro
    the seal, an interactive therapeutic robot.

    Now, Haynes and colleagues have developed a new, touch-based device
    that could ease anxiety. They initially built several prototype devices
    that simulated different sensations, such as breathing, purring, and a heartbeat. Each prototype took the form of a soft, huggable cushion that
    was meant to be intuitive and inviting. Focus group testing identified
    the "breathing" cushion as being the most pleasant and calming, so the researchers further developed it into a larger, mechanical cushion.

    To test the new device, the research team recruited 129 volunteers for an experiment involving a group mathematics test. Using pre- and post-test questionnaires, the researchers found that students who used the device
    were less anxious pre-test than those who did not. The experiment also
    compared the breathing cushion to a guided meditation, and found that
    both were equally effective at easing anxiety.

    These findings suggest that the breathing cushion could be used to
    reduce anxiety, for example for students who are anticipating exams. The researchers now hope to further refine the cushion for testing in people's homes. They also plan to investigate people's physiological response to
    the device -- for instance, changes in heart rate or breathing patterns
    -- in order to elucidate the particular mechanisms by which the device
    might ease anxiety.

    The authors add: "We were excited to find that holding the breathing
    cushion, without any guidance, produced a similar effect on anxiety in
    students as a meditation practice. This ability of the device to be used intuitively opens it up to providing wider audiences with accessible
    anxiety relief."

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
    for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Alice C. Haynes, Annie Lywood, Emily M. Crowe, Jessica L. Fielding,
    Jonathan M. Rossiter, Christopher Kent. A calming hug: Design and
    validation of a tactile aid to ease anxiety. PLOS ONE, 2022; 17
    (3): e0259838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259838 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220309140929.htm

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