About this trial
Caregivers experience high levels of prolonged stress that can lead to chronic problems with health, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease that is linked to autonomic dysregulation. Heart rate variability (HRV), measures of autonomic cardiovascular regulation, is decreased (worse) in caregivers. Autonomic function is linked to lateralization in the brain, and emerging neuromodulation methods that target lateralized signals in the brain, like Cereset (CR), may be able to improve heart rate variability. Therefore, this pilot study aims to test whether CR can improve HRV in caregivers of a person living with dementia experiencing stress, anxiety, or insomnia, as well as improve self-report measures of stress, sleep and caregiver burden.
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
Participants must provide caregiving at least 10 hours per week. This includes all types of caregiving
participants must be willing to provide informed consent
participants must be able to comply with basic instructions
participants must be able to sit comfortably for up to 90 minutes, and attend up to three 60-minute intervention sessions each week during the 4-week intervention period
Disqualifiers
participants providing less than 10 hours a week of care to a person
participants who are unable or unwilling to attend intervention sessions during the planned study period
participants who are unable or unwilling to provide consent
participants who are not exhibiting symptoms of stress, anxiety or insomnia
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Cereset Research
Treatment groups
Sponsors and collaborators
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Lead sponsor
Memory Counseling Program general fund
Collaborator
Heidi Munger-Clary, MD
Collaborator
Hossam Shaltout, PhD
Collaborator
Sean Simpson, PhD
Collaborator
Christina Hugenschmidt, PhD
Collaborator
Mia Yang, MD
Collaborator