The Effects of Breath-Counting Meditation and Deep Breathing on Heart Rate Variability

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of breath-counting meditation (BCM) and deep breathing (DB) on heart rate variability (HRV). These breathing techniques have the characteristics of non-paced and self-controlled breathings, resulting in less increase of HRV. We also compared BCM and DB with usual breathing (UB) or relaxing breathing (RB) which can reveal the characteristics of those. Methods: 83 healthy volunteers sitting in chairs performed non-paced breathing; UB, RB, BCM, and DB each for 5 minutes. One minute of relaxation was permitted between breathings. Participants surfed the internet sitting in front of a computer during UB, while for RB, they remained steady with eyes closed. For BCM, they breathed inwardly counting from 1 to 10 repetitively, while they took a deep breath during DB. Physiological indices were simultaneously recorded with a biofeedback system. Results: Respiration rate, thoracic amplitude, and mean heart rate decreased in RB compared with UB, but there was no change in HRV. Respiration rate in BCM and DB was lower than that in UB or RB, and the amplitude of thorax or abdomen, and HRV all increased (p<0.05). However, mean heart rate and skin conductance decreased in BCM compared with UB (p<0.05), whereas those were no different between DB and UB. Conclusion: BCM, just concentrating mentally on breathing with counting each breath, can increase HRV with less sympathetic activation, while DB, actively moving thorax and abdomen for achieving the deepest respiration rate, can greatly raise HRV with the maintenance of mean vagal or sympathetic tone.