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Monday 21 September 2015

The Influence of Bach Rescue Remedy on the Autonomic Response to Mental Challenge in Healthy Taiwanese Women

Open Access
P2.018

The Influence of Bach Rescue Remedy on the Autonomic Response to Mental Challenge in Healthy Taiwanese Women

Open Access funded by Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine
Under a Creative Commons license
Purpose: The Bach Rescue Remedy is generally considered as a stress relief formula by practitioners of Bach flower remedies. The influences of Bach Rescue Remedy on the autonomic response to mental challenge have not been clarified. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of Bach Rescue Remedy on the autonomic response to mental challenge using heart rate variability in healthy women.
Methods: A two-stage crossover study design was used to compare the effects of Bach Rescue remedy and placebo on autonomic response to a mental challenge in 30 women (mean age 30 years, SD 6 years). The Bach Rescue Remedy consisted of four drops of five flower essences (cherry plum, clematis, impatiens, rock rose and Star of Bethlehem) dissolved in brandy and 250 mL of distilled water. The placebo consisted of four drops of brandy in 250 mL of distilled water. The mental challenge was a 5-minute mental arithmetic task administered through Calcul 5.2 Win32 computer software. Percentage changes in heart rate variability were calculated between baseline and after the mental challenge in both groups.
Results: The mean percentage changes of normalized low frequency power (nLF) (p=0.046) and natural logarithm-transformed low frequency power to high frequency power ratio [ln(LF/HF)] (p=0.041) were significantly lower in the Bach Rescue Remedy group compared with the placebo.
Conclusion: The decrease in the LF/HF ratio in the Bach Rescue Remedy group indicated a change of the sympathovagal balance towards a parasympathetic predominance. This finding suggested that the stress relieving effect of Bach Rescue Remedy may operate through a modulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities.
Contact: Shih Wei Yang, carol057834180@yahoo.com.tw

Corresponding author.