Calm Commute: Guided Slow Breathing for Daily Stress Management in Drivers

Commutes provide an opportune time and space for interventions that mitigate stress-particularly stress accumulated during the workday. In this study, we test the efficacy and safety of haptic guided slow breathing interventions of short duration while driving. We also present design and experimental implications for evolving these interventions from prior simulator to moving vehicle scenarios. We ran a controlled study (N=24) testing a haptic guided breathing system in a closed circuit under normal and stressful driving conditions. Results show the intervention to be successful in both user adoption and system effectiveness with an 82% rate of engagement in intervention and clear reduction of breathing rate and physiological arousal, with no effect on driving safety and minimal effect on performance. The haptic intervention received positive acceptance from the participants: all indicated a willingness to engage with the intervention in the future and all rated the intervention as safe for traffic applications. The results of this study encourage further investigations exploring the use of the intervention on public roads and monitoring for longitudinal health benefits.