Jared Newton (97jnewton@gmail.com); Joseph Rees (josephrees57@gmail.com)

Background- Over the last 30 years, there has been an increase in stress as stressor prevalence and severity has risen (Almeida et al., 2020). This is critical due to the detrimental effects that stress can have on individuals' physical health (Rawson et al., 1994) and mental health (Snyder et al., 2019). When studying stress, researchers often use heart rate variability (HRV) because it has been established as a measurement of one's ability to adapt to stressful stimuli (Rajendra Acharya et al., 2006). In addition, high HRV has also been shown to correlate with both better resilience and cortisol modulation (Perna et al., 2020), implying a connection to improved stress management. This study will examine the relationship between resilience and HRV using a standardized protocol and large sample. Hypothesis-If an individual has higher resilience then they will have higher HRV at baseline and will recover back to their baseline after a stressor in comparison to those with lower resilience. Methods-College students were randomly assigned to three different breathing ratio groups, each with different ratios of inhaling/exhaling-40/60, 50/50, or 60/40. Prior to participation, participants completed a battery of measures, including the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC; Connor & Davidson, 2003). During the study, participants were instructed to breathe according to their assigned breathing ratio while data was collected through an EKG, respiration belt, and blood pressure cuff. The protocol consisted of a 5 minute baseline, breathing practice for 15 minutes, a stressor, and a 10 minute recovery period. Results-We hypothesize that the data will show that those with higher resilience will have higher HRV at baseline and during the recovery period in comparison to those with lower levels of resilience.