Can integrating Virtual Reality enhance formal stress-management interventions and mechanisms?

CAN INTEGRATING VIRTUAL REALITY ENHANCE FORMAL STRESS-MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS AND MECHANISMS?

ABSTRACT

The following report is centred on examining an exploratory investigation conducted by a collective conglomeration of researchers across Western Europe on the effectiveness of integrating virtual reality with relaxation breathing techniques as a possible stress-management technique (Soyka et al., 2016). This study represents a successful implementation of the development and application strand under the umbrella of science as a human endeavour which can lead to well-designed solutions to current challenges while integrating technology in their design. This report starts by exemplifying both the indirect and direct psychological conceptions dealt with through this paper as well as the findings of this investigation and how it is a classic example of science’s interaction with society while ending with a summative conclusion.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTIONS BEHIND STRESS

Being constantly inundated with work tasks and information is the new normal of our fast-paced global society which makes calming our minds increasingly strenuous leading to the development of stress. Environmental stress is responded through the increasing activity of the sympathetic nervous which may result in physiological changes such as fatigue or an intensified heart beat (Lambert & Lambert, 2011). A healthy mechanism the body uses to destress individuals is by allowing the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) to seize control and bring the body back to a balanced state (Prinsloo et al., 2011) but nowadays people are regularly exposed to stressors on a daily basis meaning they are constantly at a chronic state of imbalance (Lehrer et. Al., 2007).

A more summative approach to define the systematic physiological responses to the prolonged exposure of stress is Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome which commences with the abrupt release of specific hormones that regulate body functions leading to physical responses such as trembling or increased heart rate in what is known as the alarm stage. The body tries to repair itself from the stressor in the upcoming resistance stage but if the stressor persists it will prolong until mental resources have been drained to the extent the body can no longer cope with stress at exhaustion (Selye, 1946). If stress persists, there are changes in immunological functioning and neurotransmissions leading to mental health issues like anxiety and depression (Michie, 2002).

As stress is more regularly experienced by humans, the importance of effective stress-management systems can never be underestimated (Lehrer et al., 2007). One highly recommended method of relieving stress is to use breathing techniques (Donovan & Kleiner, 1994) which is the primary technique of this investigation. Breathing techniques in general help bring in additional oxygen which can deaccelerate the heart rate and calm the human mind summoning the PSNS to propel the body back to a state of mental equilibrium (Yu, 2017).

INVESTIGATION INSIGHTS, IDEAS & EVALUATIONS

The examined study of this report was focused on evaluating whether an underwater world projected through VR technology and combined with breathing techniques was an effective stress-management mechanism as opposed to traditional breathing. The article explicates that paced breathing with 1 breath every 10 seconds leads to an incorporation between heart and breathing rate know as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) which triggers the PSNS to bring the body to relaxation (Prinsloo et al., 2011). Deep breaths result in neurological messages sent to the brain that calm down its neural pathways leading to relaxation which is then spread around the body. Relaxation alleviates stress by mitigating the physiological effects of the alarm stage such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure (Healthwise staff, 2016).

One issue with paced breathing methods is that people can easily lose enthusiasm and subsequently disregard the technique (Riva et al., 2007). This investigation tackles this issue by enhancing paced breathing by combining it with virtual environments. Virtual environments Virtual reality (VR) represents advanced computational interfaces that simulate realistic environments where participants can immerse themselves (Zheng, Chan & Gibson, 1998). In fact, immersive VR tools have been identified as a potentially promising tool for positive psychological interventions ranging from CBT to stress-management largely favoured due to its cost-effective nature (Geraets et al., 2021). Furthermore, VR provides a great pathway for destressing through tailored experience that helps induce positive emotions and while allowing them to be engaged in the deep-breathing technique thus helping to mitigate the stressor (Riva et al., 2007).

In this investigation 11 participants were immersed in a virtual underwater environment which featured a jellyfish undergoing rhythmic motions that the participant had to replicate in the form of deep breaths. This was conditioned against an alternate group of 10 participants who only saw a jellyfish with no sounds and environment. Through several measured physiological metrics and feedback, the results seemed promising that VR can indeed assist stress-management techniques. They reported a greater level of enjoyment for the virtual underwater world more in contrast to the empty scene and sought the useful relaxation that was satisfactory to reduce their stress levels. Conclusively, questionnaire and physiological measures put together suggest that the underwater world serves as a potential improvement to current stress-management techniques based on paced breathing, because it was more effective that traditional methods.

ANALYSING THE INVESTIGATION AS SICENCE AS A HUMAN ENDEAVOUR

The above investigation is a classic example that reflects the two-way interaction between science and society under the SHE strands of development and application which starts with scientists responding to economic, social or environmental factors. Predominantly, society has the capacity to shift scientific research patterns through the environmental changes it undergoes. In the context of this article, as stress is more regularly experienced due to the constant bombardment of work, family and school-life pressions breathing techniques act as a bottleneck for effective stress-management. Therefore, more research resources are allocated towards the refinement, enhancement and development of current and new stress-management systems that can re-influence society in a positive manner.

The above investigation also demonstrates that technological development can enhance scientific understanding and its integrations can lead to more refined solutions. For instance, the use of immersive VR technology projecting the sensory imagery of an underwater landscape alongside the traditional use of paced-breathing techniques suggests how revolutionary technological innovations can help improve current mechanisms for stress-management while enhancing our understanding of how stress can be easily mitigated through relaxing virtual environments. The investigation also makes use of medical instrumentation in the form of sensors and amplifies to gather physiological metrics on the stress level of participants which also demonstrates how technology helps simplify and ease our understanding and determination of psychological issues.

Alongside technology, the researchers have also applied psychological conceptions and theories to design their stress-management model. These may include the understanding that pace breathing can help summon the PSNS which can bring the body to state of mental balance and dispel the stressor while understanding that calming visual images such as the seaside can help relax the mind and ease the summoning of the PSNS. In sum, this manifests the importance of applying past psychological concepts in the development and design of smarter solutions to stagnant issues like stress.

Finally, the two-way interaction between science and society also means that the findings of this investigation can also impact several stakeholders within society in contradicting ways. Overall, the refined of breathing techniques with VR will benefit society including workers, students and family members who are constantly under stress as they would find that pace-breathing in a relaxing virtual environment would be more engaging and effective to their mitigation of stress as opposed to just breathing in a mundane environment. Hence implementing this technique can improve the quality of life of those stressed. Instantaneously, this might influence further groups like schools, enterprises and government entities as stress reduces among individuals’ productivity rates would increase which may result in better academic performance among schools, increased profits for enterprises and stronger economic growth and income distributions which allows governments to tax more.

Furthermore, this study could also motivate further research groups to tests the use of alternative VR environment with breathing techniques or new breathing methods to further enhance and refine the techniques which could lead to better stress management mechanisms in the future. Although the clinical use of VR maybe cost effective as opposed to human effort, the use of VR does have its limitations as it is not accessible by all income groups due to its cost of acquisition so the effects of this technique maybe split between the wealthy and poor. Finally, over-reliance on VR for stress-management can lead to new issues such as headaches or even delusion when individuals may have trouble adjusting from the virtual underwater display to the real-world causing confusion (Joshi, 2022).                 .

CONCLUSION

Conclusively, this study which successively applies the concepts of science as a human endeavour is of immense use to several stakeholder groups as it represents a unique and innovative solution that integrates both tradition and technology to solve the daily encounter of stress. However further research is need to help make the technology  accessible and affordable while supplementary research is required to understand how to eliminate the harmful effects of VR for its users. Moreover,th study must investigate more diverse samples outside of Eurocentric populations, using alternate techniques to breathing and new virtual environments such as cities or grasslands to truly determine whether this method can be replicated and applied to clinical settings where stress management is regularly practiced.

REFERENCES

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