The Effect of Stress Management Programs on Physiological and Psychological Components of Stress: The Influence of Baseline Physiological State

Military personnel are particularly exposed to stressful events, and overexposure to stress is both physically and mentally unhealthy. While stress management programs, such as the Tactics of Optimized Potential (TOP) and Heart Coherence (HC) have been implemented, their efficiency remains to be eva...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback 2021-09, Vol.46 (3), p.243-250
Main Authors: Hoareau, Violette, Godin, Christelle, Dutheil, Frédéric, Trousselard, Marion
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Fire fighters
Health Psychology
Heart beat
Heart rate
Human health and pathology
Humanities and Social Sciences
Life Sciences
Military personnel
Mood
Neurophysiology
Physiological aspects
Physiology
Psychological assessment
Psychology
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Public Health
Stress
Stress (Psychology)
Stress management
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Summary:Military personnel are particularly exposed to stressful events, and overexposure to stress is both physically and mentally unhealthy. While stress management programs, such as the Tactics of Optimized Potential (TOP) and Heart Coherence (HC) have been implemented, their efficiency remains to be evaluated. The objective of this randomized control trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of the two programs among a young male population of 180 military fire fighter recruits. Based on two psychological, and one physiological measurement, namely heart rate variability (HRV), we found that both TOP and HC programs significantly increased HRV. This is promising as we know that higher HRV is consistent with better health, in most cases. Moreover, the TOP program significantly reduced perceived stress and negative mood, unlike the HC program. Combining these results, we conclude that while both TOP and HC programs influence physiological measurements, only the TOP modifies psychological evaluations. Finally, we distinguished the effects of the programs on two samples characterized by their HRV level. For the low HRV group, both programs tended to increase their HRV level, while for the high HRV group neither program had a significant effect.
ISSN:1090-0586
1573-3270
DOI:10.1007/s10484-021-09508-0