Overview

• The JAMA Psychiatry study randomized about 115–120 adults in their first year of abstinence-based recovery to standard care with or without the Lief HRVB Smart Patch for eight weeks.
• The wearable monitored heart-rate-variability to flag stress or craving risk and prompted brief guided-breathing exercises via a connected app.
• Participants using the patch reported fewer cravings and negative emotions and had roughly a 64% reduction in the proportion of days with alcohol or drug use versus controls.
• Protocol asked users to wear the device at least eight hours daily and complete about 10 minutes of scheduled biofeedback practice, with outcomes self-reported twice daily by smartphone.
• Researchers from Mass General Brigham and Harvard, with support from NIDA and NIAAA, noted limitations including short duration, first-year population focus, and reliance on self-report, urging larger, longer follow-up studies.