Limitations of the study
This study has both limitations and strengths. A strength is the randomization of participants and the use of an active control intervention. However, we were not able to conduct a sample size calculation for the present study, due to the scarcity of other studies in this research field. Therefore, we cannot be certain that the lack of detectable differences between the groups in terms of biomarkers were due to the lack of actual changes in HRV and inflammatory parameters, or due to lack of statistical power. Due to the large number of statistical analyses conducted in the study, significant changes in certain variables should be interpreted with caution.