Long-term benefits of heart rate variability biofeedback training in older adults with different levels of social interaction: a pilot study

Abstract

To test whether heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training benefits older adults with different social interaction levels.

Methods: 32 older adults (16 were institutionalized and 16 were not). Both groups received 14 sessions, 15 min, 3 times a week, with half of the individuals receiving HRV biofeedback training and the other half receiving control training. The following parameters were assessed immediately before and after training, and 4.5 weeks after the last session (follow-up period): aerobic conditioning, anthropometric data, emotional scores, and HRV components.

Results: Before the training, the institutionalized individuals had higher scores of loneliness (p < 0.01) and depression (p < 0.0001) and lower social touches (p < 0.0001), body mass (p = 0.04), and body fat percentage (p = 0.002) than the non-institutionalized individuals. HRV biofeedback improved symptoms of depression in both groups. HRV improved only in the non-institutionalized group, and loneliness only in the institutionalized group. Lastly, all changes persisted after the follow-up period.

Conclusions: HRV biofeedback training was effective in improving symptoms of depression in older adults. Improvement of HRV and loneliness was dependent on the level of social interaction.