Authors: Norma Gomes ; Sepideh Iranfar ; Kostiantyn Maksymenko ; Slah Aridhi ; Alice Guyon ^1,2

• 1 Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, UMR 7275, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Sophia Antipolis
• 2 Institut de pharmacologie moléculaire et cellulaire

Rapid relaxation devices developed by private companies propose rapid solutions to fight against stress or anxiety. However, there have been insufficient scientific studies on these devices. In a previous article, we evaluated the variation of 15 physiological and psychological parameters before and after relaxation in 4 groups of participants using 3 different rapid (15 minute) relaxation devices with sensorial immersion and a control group using no device. This pilot study included 40 participants, 12 males and 28 females, aged 27-68 years old with an average of 42.7 ± 11.5 years old and showed that some parameters were more relevant for the analysis of these relaxation devices and suggested some differences in the relaxation processes between devices. We hypothesized that by analyzing physiological parameters recorded during the rapid relaxation process in the same population, we could unravel the previously observed pre-post treatment variations. The measurements included brain wave electroencephalography (Muse2 EEG) recordings, respiration rhythm (mechanical abdominal movements) and heart rate variability parameters (PPG signals). The objective of the study was to identify the physiological parameters recorded during relaxation of interest to discriminate the groups and to study the effects of the devices on these parameters. The EEG recordings showed differences in dominant waves between groups. In addition, the Be-Breathe intervention group exhibited a decreased respiration rate compared to the control group, and a simultaneous increase in heart rate variability parameters, while other groups showed less significant variations in their respiration or heart rate variables, which was confirmed by a k-means cluster analysis. We discuss how these variations observed during rapid relaxation could contribute to the differences that we previously observed pre and post relaxation interventions. Finally, we built a model to determine which parameters discriminate best between the groups.