Heart-Focused Breathing and Perceptions of Burden in Alzheimer’s Caregivers: An Online Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Informal caregivers to persons with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) commonly experience high levels of perceived burden, stress, and low quality of life— outcomes that negatively affect the quality of care provided. Yet to be explored are the effects of heart-focused breathing, a self-regulation deep breathing technique, on perceived caregiver burden and heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of autonomic nervous system function. Considering the high attrition rates of many previous in-person AD caregiver interventions, it may be necessary to implement an online intervention to address perceived caregiver burden. This study aimed to test the trends in effects of a 2-week online heart-focused breathing intervention using HeartMath’s Heart Lock-In® technique on perceived caregiver burden, perceived stress, quality of life, anxiety, inner haven, self-compassion, and HRV in a population of AD caregivers. Ten informal AD caregivers participated in the study with five participants randomized into the waitlist control group and five into the intervention group. The intervention group practiced a 10-minute heart-focused breathing protocol using their smart device (i.e., phone) every day for a 2-week period. Participants completed pre- and post- self-report questionnaires online via Google Forms and HRV assessments via the Welltory mobile application. The HRV assessments measured rMSSD, high frequency, and low frequency. The intervention group did not experience improvements related to perceived caregiver burden, perceived stress, anxiety, inner haven or high frequency waves. However, the study results suggest positive trends in quality of life, self-compassion, rMSSD, and low frequency waves among the AD caregivers. Additional research within a larger and more diverse population is needed.
Keywords: Informal Alzheimer’s caregivers, perceived caregiver burden, heart-focused breathing, heart rate variability