Exploring the Efficacy of a Breathing Training Intervention in Patients With Emotionally Regulated Sleep Disorders

Exploring the Efficacy of a Breathing Training Intervention in Patients With Emotionally Regulated Sleep Disorders

In recent years, the incidence of sleep disorders, especially insomnia, has been rising. Insomnia can directly lead to damage to patients' daytime functions, such as daytime sleepiness, inattention, etc., affecting people's normal work and life. Insomnia is related to dysfunction of multiple systems such as the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, endocrine systems, digestion and breathing, and plays a vital role in the occurrence and development of chronic diseases. Therefore, insomnia has become an increasingly serious medical and social problem. At the same time, with the development of society, the incidence of mental illness is gradually increasing. Emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression can greatly affect the quality of life and even seriously endanger people's health and life safety. Insomnia is closely related to mood disorders. Insomnia not only increases the patient's risk of depression, but also increases the risk of suicide in young patients. In addition, mood disorders are also closely related to insomnia. Mood disorders such as anxiety and depression will also increase the incidence of insomnia. There are also studies showing that the quality of life of patients with severe depression is related to insomnia. The impact of emotional state on sleep is multidimensional. Meneo summarized various mechanisms by which emotions affect sleep, such as dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, as well as factors such as cognitive behavior. Among these mechanisms, functional imbalance of the autonomic nervous system is considered to be a core link. The autonomic nervous system is mainly composed of two branches: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. On the one hand, under conditions of emotional stress or anxiety, the activity of the sympathetic nervous system is enhanced, leading to physiological reactions such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, thereby increasing alertness and reducing the tendency to sleep. On the other hand, during sleep, the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system is enhanced, especially reflected by increasing the high-frequency component of heart rate variability, which contributes to the improvement of sleep depth and quality. Although the relationship between mood and sleep disorders has been widely recognized, current research on its underlying mechanisms is still limited, and it is difficult to develop effective intervention strategies based on this. As an emerging biological monitoring method, heart-brain co-testing can simultaneously monitor and analyze the activities of the brain and heart, interpret the connection of heart-brain axis functions from a new perspective, help elucidate related physiological activities, provide evidence for determining the mechanism of the impact of emotions on sleep disorders, and improve the accuracy of diagnosis and evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment. The mind-brain testing method plays a vital role in revealing the complex connection between emotions and sleep disorders. It is expected to improve our research on the mechanisms of emotion and sleep disorders, find new ways to intervene, and thereby improve the public's physical and mental health.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Meet the diagnostic criteria for insomnia disorder.
• Be between 18 and 80 years of age, inclusive.
• Have questionnaire scores indicating clinical significance:

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score > 5 Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) score > 7 Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) score > 7 and/or Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) score ≥ 7

• Be able to communicate effectively and provide informed consent in the primary language of the study site.
• Provide written informed consent prior to participation

Exclusion Criteria:

• Insomnia that is secondary to another underlying physical or medical condition.
• A primary diagnosis of another sleep disorder (e.g., sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome) or a primary mood disorder that is considered the main cause of sleep disturbance.
• Chronic sleep disturbances primarily attributable to environmental or lifestyle factors (e.g., shift work, excessive noise, childcare duties).