Abstract
Stress and stress-related physical and mental diseases are increasing and affecting more people every day. There have been many approaches to try to solve this issue. Many of them are based on the idea that meditation and mindfulness breathing could improve these conditions. The problem is that not everyone can achieve those levels of meditation for that to work. Another issue is that those solutions are relying on a particular way of breathing to help all.
In contrast, this project developed under research that shows that the amount of CO₂ in a person's exhaled breath could be an indicator of their mood. How much, and for how long we take in oxygen could reveal data in our exhale breathe to tell us in which specific state we are. Controlling the physiology of our breathing seems to work faster at the moment of the stress symptoms happening. This device has the intention of telling the user in which rhythm it makes more sense for them to breathe according to their specific physiology state.
In this context, there was a need to keep looking at competitive products to see what works and what does not. This exploration was done to see if the technology applied in the capnography could be implemented into this device to control the exhale breathing readings. User testing, interviews with experts in electrical engineering, meditation, people suffering from stress, anxiety, and panic attacks helped to inform the development of this project. The result is a friendly hand-held device, intuitive to use and with subtle vibration feedback to interact with the user. The people I interviewed seemed interested in this product and willing to use it, but further research is needed in this matter. Also and long-term research is required, perhaps with a more significant sample of people to see the progress of people
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Breathing exercises--Equipment and supplies--Design; Stress management; Respiratory gas monitoring; Capnography
Publication Date
5-1-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Student Type
Graduate
Degree Name
Industrial Design (MFA)
Department, Program, or Center
School of Design (CAD)
Advisor
Stan Rickel
Advisor/Committee Member
Lorraine Justice
Recommended Citation
Guerrero Bejarano, Maria Grazia, "Breathing Pacer Device for Stress and Anxiety Relief" (2020). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
https://repository.rit.edu/theses/10488
Campus
RIT – Main Campus
Plan Codes
IDDE-MFA
