Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Training to Reduce Stress and Symptoms in College Students with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders

What this Trial Is About

Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders FGIDs are conditions marked by long-lasting stomach and digestive symptoms without clear physical causes. They include Irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS and Functional Dyspepsia FD, often linked with ongoing pain, anxiety, and depression. Stress plays a key role by affecting nerve connections between the gut and brain. Researchers are studying Heart Rate Variability HRV biofeedback as a way to improve the balance of the nervous system and reduce stress and symptoms in college students with FGIDs. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups one will receive true HRV biofeedback training, which includes five sessions of 45 minutes each held every two weeks. During these sessions, participants will learn to synchronize their heart rate with their breathing using real-time feedback from ECG and respiratory signals displayed on a screen. The other group will receive placebo training with similar session timing and activities but without feedback based on their own physiological signals. Throughout the study, participants will complete psychological questionnaires and physiological recordings before treatment, after four weeks, and again three months later. Measurements will include anxiety, stress, emotion regulation, IBS severity, and heart rate variability, along with secondary outcomes like emotional state, respiratory rate, and depression. This approach will help assess whether HRV biofeedback reduces stress and gastrointestinal symptoms. The trial involves online screening and follow-up assessments over several months.

A Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Biofeedback Training in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (FGID)