Investigating the Effects of Stellate Ganglion Block and Superior Cervical Ganglion Block on Sleep and Recovery Using Biometric Capture Devices

PTSD is meaningfully related to workforce productivity and quality of life factors, including loss of employment and decreases in general life satisfaction. Trauma leads to symptoms that diminish capacity to experience warm and loving feelings for others (emotional numbness), profound negative changes in our self-image and identity, fears that often limit enjoyment of pleasurable activities, and other life-altering challenges. Many survivors experience recurrent feelings of helplessness and horror, and may commonly experience crippling panic attacks, feelings of self-blame and shame, chronically disrupted sleep, and relationship conflict with loved ones.

Low resting Heart Rate Variability (HRV)-- the variability in the time in between heart beats--is a physiological indicator of stress and has been associated with reductions in wellbeing and increases in all-cause mortality. Higher heart rate variability is associated with better sleep quality while lower heart rate variability is associated with increased chronic inflammation. The negative effects of PTSD on sleep are well-documented, and interventions are often targeted at alleviating this damaging consequence, as insufficient sleep can perpetuate anxiety and impair day-to-day functioning, leading to an overall reduced quality of life.

The current standard of care is to offer a combination of trauma-focused psychotherapy and symptom-focused medications, typically a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication. However, a promising treatment known as the Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) plus the Superior Cervical Ganglion Block (SCGB) procedure has been shown to alleviate PTSD symptoms without any of the side-effects and barriers known to patients on conventional treatments. While this treatment shows promise, most of the research performed so far has used subjective self-report measures of sleep quality and stress. Whoop biometric capture devices offer an opportunity to objectively measure sleep quality and heart rate variability to investigate the effects of the SGB. Physiological data could reveal whether this treatment works not just to alleviate subjective stress, but to physically reduce the effects of PTSD on the body.