Affiliations 

  • 1 Saveetha College of Physiotherapy, Saveetha Institute of Medical & Technical Sciences, Chennai, India
  • 2 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Work, 2023 Dec 22.
PMID: 38143418 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-231362

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. Elderly health care workers carry out a variety of duties at work and have years of clinical expertise. Anxiety and insomnia are among the more commonly encountered problems in senior physicians and other geriatric medical professional populations.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to determine the effect of vagal nerve stimulation on anxiety and sleep disturbances among geriatric medical professionals.

METHOD: 42 Participants were enrolled in this study based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The participants were divided into two groups using the closed envelope approach, and they took part in therapy sessions lasting 30 minutes, three times per week for a period of four weeks. The Experimental group A received non-invasive transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation(taVNS) and Control group A received Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation technique.

RESULTS: With a p value of 0.001, transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve (taVNS) stimulation significantly improved sleep quality and reduced anxiety after 4 weeks.The post-intervention assessment revealed a highly significant improvement in Group A, with a T value of 251 (p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.