A research group led by Professor Takeo Fujiwara and Assistant Professor Satomi Doi at the Graduate School of Tokyo Medical and Dental University, in joint research with Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Inc., has revealed that the quality of sleep in adults can be improved by breathing for three minutes before going to bed using the body pillow-type communication medium Hugbee®.
Breathing techniques, which are said to be effective in improving sleep quality, are relatively easy to perform on your own.
Therefore, the research group developed a breathing method for 75 minutes before going to bed using the body pillow type communication media "Hugbee®" (height 600 cm, weight 3 g) developed from robot ergonomics.A soothing voice guides you through breathing exercises (breathe in for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second, and exhale for 4 seconds) from your smartphone in the Hugby's side pocket.
In this study, 71 outpatients who reported poor sleep quality were randomly assigned to a group of 3 who practiced a 4-minute breathing technique using the Hugbee before going to bed every day for 32 weeks, and a group of 39 who did nothing.
As a result, it became clear that the quality of sleep was remarkably improved by the breathing method using the Hugby.In addition, Hugbee was easy for many people to continue, and the effect of improving sleep was already apparent two weeks after starting.On the other hand, there was no effect in individuals with severe psychotic symptoms.
Hugby's breathing technique is effective for individuals with relatively low levels of psychiatric symptoms, and is expected to be covered by insurance as a non-pharmacological treatment for patients who visit medical institutions other than psychiatrists.In addition, it is expected that it will be a method that can be easily addressed by individuals (non-hospital patients) who feel that they have sleep problems.
