Impact of a Workplace Stress Reduction Program on Blood Pressure and Emotional Health in Hypertensive Employees

This study examined the impact of a workplace-based stress management program on blood pressure (BP), emotional health, and workplace-related measures in hypertensive employees of a global information technology company

Impact of the HeartMath Self-Management Skills Program on Physiological and Psychological Stress in Police Officers

This study explored the impact on a group of police officers from Santa Clara County, California of the HeartMath stress and emotional self-management training, which provides practical techniques designed to reduce stress in the moment, improve physiological and emotional balance, increase mental clarity and enhance performance and quality of life.This study provides evidence that practical stress and emotional self-management techniques can reduce damaging physiological and psychological responses to both acute and chronic stress in police, and positively impact a variety of major life areas in a relatively short period of time. In particular, results show that application of these interventions can produce notable improvements in communication difficulties at work and in strained family relationships, two areas that are well recognized to be major sources of stress for police

Facilitating Emotional Self-Regulation in Preschool Children: Efficacy of the Early HeartSmarts Program in Promoting Social, Emotional and Cognitive Development

Developed by the Institute of HeartMath (IHM), the Early HeartSmarts (EHS) program is designed to train teachers to guide and support young children (3 -- 6 years old) in learning emotional self-regulation and key age-appropriate socioemotional competencies, with the goal of facilitating their emotional, social and cognitive development. This work reports the results of an evaluation study conducted to assess the efficacy of the EHS program in a pilot implementation of the program carried out during the 2006 -- 2007 academic year in schools of the Salt Lake City School District. The study was conducted using a quasi-experimental longitudinal field research design with three measurement moments (baseline and pre- and post-intervention panels) using The Creative Curriculum Assessment (TCCA) instrument, a teacher-scored, 50-item instrument measuring student growth in four areas of development -- social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language development. Children in nineteen preschool classrooms were divided into intervention and control group samples (N = 66 and 309, respectively; mean age = 3.6 years), in which classes in the former were specifically selected to target children of lower socioeconomic and ethnic minority family backgrounds. Overall, there is compelling evidence of the efficacy of the EHS program in increasing total psychosocial development and each of the four development areas measured by the TCCA: the results of a series of ANCOVAs found a strong, consistent pattern of significant differences on the development measures favoring preschool children who received the EHS program over those in the control group who did not

The Physiological and Psychological Effects of Compassion and Anger

Salivary IgA, heart rate and mood were measured in thirty individuals before and after experiencing care or anger. Two methods of inducing the emotional states were compared: self-induction and external induction via video tapes. Anger produced a significant increase in total mood disturbance and heart rate, but not in S-IgA levels. Positive emotions, on the other hand, produced a significant increase in S-IgA levels. Examining the effects over a six hour period we observed that anger, in contrast to care, produced a significant inhibition of S-IgA from one to five hours after the emotional experience. Results indicate that self-induction of positive emotional states is more effective at stimulating S-IgA levels than previously used external methods. Self-induction techniques may therefore be useful in minimizing the immunosuppressive effects of negative emotions

NEW ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CORRELATES ASSOCIATED WITH INTENTIONAL HEART FOCUS

This work utilizes the measurement of heart rate variability (HRV) as a vehicle to show that continued practice of certain specific techniques involving an intentional shift of focus to the area of the heart, and invoking specific feeling states such as "love" and "appreciation," automatically manifests in increased autonomic nervous system balance. In particular, (1) enhanced balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system, (2) a shift of the high frequency and low frequency portions of the HRV power spectra to around 0.1 Hz range, (3) entrainment and frequency locking of multiple body oscillators (HRV, pulse transit time and respiration), (4) a shift in frequency of all the body's entrained systems, around O.IHz frequency, associated with a change in focus of the subject to a different heart feeling state, and (5) the intentional generation of a newly defined internal coherence state (near zero HRV), have all been achieved. These are electrophysiological correlates of certain mental and emotional states occupied by the individual. Three individual subjects plus a group study of twenty subjects are reported on and discussed. From these results, one sees that individuals can intentionally affect their autonomic nervous system balance, and thus, their HRV

Music Enhances the Effect of Positive Emotional States on Salivary IgA

This study examines the effects of music and positive emotional states on autonomic and immune function in normal, healthy individuals. Autonomic activity was assessed using power spectral density analysis of heart rate variability, and salivary IgA was used as a marker of immunity. The effects of Rock, New Age, and Designer Music were examined alone, and in conjunction with a self-induced positive emotional state. The results indicate that only the Designer Music and the self-induced state of appreciation produced a significant increase in autonomic activity and salivary IgA (S-IgA). In addition, the combination of the Designer Music and the self-induced appreciation produced a much greater immunoenhancement than either of these two conditions alone. We conclude that music can be designed to enhance the beneficial effects of positive emotional states on immunity, and that this effect may be mediated by the autonomic nervous system. These data raise the tantalizing possibility that music and emotional self-management may have significant health benefits in a variety of clinical situations in which there is immunosuppression and autonomic imbalance

Meteoroid and debris special investigation group data acquisition procedures

The entire LDEF spacecraft was examined by M&D SIG for impact (i.e., craters greater than or = 0.5 mm and penetrations greater than or = 0.3 mm in diameter) and related features (e.g., debris, secondaries). During the various detailed surveys conducted at NASA Kennedy, approx. 5,000 impact related features were photodocumented, and their locations measured and recorded; an additional approx. 30,000 smaller features were counted. The equipment and techniques used by the M&D SIG permitted the determination and recording of the locations and diameters of the 5,000 imaged features. A variety of experimental and LDEF structural hardware was acquired by the M&D SIG and is presently being examined and curated at NASA Johnson

Implications of Beach and Dune Topography on Storm Surge Dynamics on the Florida Panhandle

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Reducing Test Anxiety and Improving Test Performance in American's Schools: Summary of Results From The TestEdge National Demonstration Study Executive Summary

This Executive Summary provides an overview of the purpose, research methods, and major findings of the TestEdge National Demonstration Study, conducted by researchers at the Institute of HeartMath in collaboration with faculty and graduate students at Claremont Graduate University. The study's primary purpose was to investigate the efficacy of the TestEdge program in reducing stress and test anxiety and improving emotional well-being, quality of relationships, and academic performance in public school students