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Breathe Easy
Asthma has earned the dubious distinction of being classified as an epidemic by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with U.S. cases more
than doubling to almost 15 million between 1980 and 1995. Thomas Ritz
and Alicia Meuret, both of SMU’s Psychology Department, have collaborated
with researchers from Stanford University Medical School to develop
a four-week program to teach asthma patients how to breathe more effectively.
Meuret, an expert in anxiety disorders, has done research showing that
controlled breathing exercises are effective in treating panic-disorder
patients who experience hyperventilation. She and Ritz, who researches
the psychobiology and behavioral treatment of chronic diseases, have
conducted a pilot study using those techniques with asthmatics. Participants
learned to check their breathing before and after performing guided
exercises. They used hand-held capnometers to measure and store data
on their oxygen and carbon dioxide levels and respiration rates.
The researchers found reduced frequency and distress of symptoms and an increase in reported asthma control. “Variability of lung function is an important measure of the strength of asthma – the more there is, the worse the disease. That was reduced by breathing training,” Ritz says. The researchers will apply for National Institutes of Health funding to expand the study.
Read more on Ritz and Meuret’s work in the upcoming Fall/Winter issue of SMU Magazine.
Learn more at their Stress, Anxiety, and Chronic Disease Research Program home page.<< Back to SMU Connections
