Guiding Breathing at the Resonance Frequency with Haptic Sensors Potentiates Cardiac Coherence

Cardiac coherence is a state achieved when one controls their breathing rate during the so-called resonance frequency breathing. This maneuver allows respiratory-driven vagal modulations of the heart rate to superimpose with sympathetic modulations occurring at 0.1 Hz, thereby maximizing autonomous power in heart-to-brain connections. These stimulations have been shown to improve vagal regulations, which results in obvious benefits for both mental and organic health. Here, we present a device that is able to deliver visual and haptic cues, as well as HRV biofeedback information to guide the user in maintaining a 0.1 Hz breathing frequency. We explored the effectiveness of cardiac coherence in three guidance conditions: visual, haptic and visuo-haptic breathing. Thirty-two healthy students (sixteen males) were divided into three groups that experienced five minutes of either visual, haptic and visuo-haptic guided breathing at 0.1 Hz. The effects of guidance on the (adequate) breathing pattern and heart rate variability (HRV) were analyzed. The interest of introducing haptic breathing to achieve cardiac coherence was shown in the haptic and visuo-haptic groups. Especially, the P_0.1 index, which indicates how the autonomous power is 'concentrated' at 0.1 Hz in the PSD spectrum, demonstrated the superiority of combining haptic with visual sensory inputs in potentiating cardiac coherence (0.55 ± 0.20 for visuo-haptic vs. 0.28 ± 0.14 for visual only guidance; p < 0.05) haptic-induced effectiveness could be an asset for a more efficient and time-saving practice, allowing improved health and well-being even under tight time constraints.