Breathing Techniques and Meditation for Health Care Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic

Breathing Techniques and Meditation for Health Care Workers During COVID-19

This phase I trial investigates breathing techniques and meditation for health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic. Breathing techniques and medication may help manage stress and improve lung health. The goal of this trial is to learn if breathing techniques and meditation may help to reduce stress and improve lung health in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To demonstrate the feasibility of a short pranayama or breathing techniques and meditation during Covid-19 pandemic.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the adherence to the practice assessed as at least 50% of participants implement the intervention for 3 or more times in a week by the end of week 1/day 7 (+ 3 days).

II. To determine the change in resilience, perceived stress and psychological impact from day 0 today 28 as measured by the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS4), and COVID-19 Stress among health care workers questionnaire.

III. To determine the changes in breath holding time measured weekly for 4 weeks.

IV. To determine the differences in breath holding time between those who are adherent and those who are not adherent to the practice.

OUTLINE:

Patients view an instructional video on breathing techniques and meditation. Patients then perform breathing techniques over 3 minutes and meditation over 2 minutes twice daily (BID) for 28 days.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be able to read and understand English
• Must be employed at MD Anderson Cancer Center

Exclusion Criteria:

• Epilepsy
• Brain tumor
• Brain aneurysm
• Pregnant or trying to get pregnant
• Brain bleeding in the past 1 year
• Recent abdominal surgery and not cleared to exercise