Trial design and participants
tachypnoea, cardiovascular problems, breathlessness, active/chronic infection
CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE, EVENTS, DISEASES
This parallel superiority RCT with 1:1 allocation was conducted online via the research platform Prolific (prolific.co). Self-assessed inclusion criteria were: Being 18 + (automatic minimum age on Prolific), able to nasal breathe, and having access to headphones. Additional pre-screeners were also set: Living in UK, English fluency, 98% + approval rate on Prolific and 20 + previous Prolific submissions (recommended by the platform to increase retention in longitudinal/multi-part studies). Exclusion (self-assessed) criteria included: problems which affected one’s ability to pace their breathing (i.e., active/chronic infection), breathlessness, cardiovascular problems, respiratory conditions or diseases (i.e., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), abnormally slow breathing (bradypnea) or fast breathing (tachypnoea), and any other health conditions or current life events which impaired one’s ability to engage in activities involving breath control. Building on our recent meta-analysis which found a significant small-medium between-group post-intervention effect (