Key result
Slow yoga breathing, specifically alternate nostril breathing, significantly reduced reaction time in the 2-back working memory task by 8.59% (p<0.01) and improved accuracy by 6.62% compared to baseline.
Why the study?
The study investigated the immediate effect of slow yoga breathing at 6 breaths per minute simultaneously on working memory performance and heart rate variability in yoga practitioners.
Does slow yoga breathing improve working memory performance and heart rate variability in healthy male yoga practitioners?
RCT (n=40)
Randomized crossover order of sessions
No
Does slow yoga breathing improve working memory performance and heart rate variability in healthy male yoga practitioners?
Effect estimate: -8.59% change
Absolute Event Rate: 647.32% vs 708.15%
p-value: p=<0.01
Slow yoga breathing immediately improves working memory performance and cardiac autonomic activity in healthy male yoga practitioners.
Hypothesis-generating for acute cognitive benefits in practitioners; prospective trials needed before broader adoption.
This study investigated the immediate effect of slow yoga breathing (SYB) at 6 breaths per minute (bpm) simultaneously on working memory performance and heart rate variability (HRV) in yoga practitioners. A total of 40 healthy male volunteers performed a working memory task, 'n-back', consisting of three levels of difficulty, 0-back, 1-back, and 2-back, separately, before and after three SYB sessions on different days. The SYB sessions included alternate nostril breathing (ANB), right nostril breathing (RNB), and breath awareness (BAW). Repeated measures analysis of variance showed a significant reduction in reaction time (ms) in 2-back condition immediately after ANB (-8%), RNB (-8%) and BAW (-5%) practices. Similarly, the accuracy was improved in the 0-back condition after RNB (4%), and in the 2-back condition after ANB (6%) and RNB (6%) practices. These results suggest that SYB practice enhances cognitive abilities (8-9%) related to memory load and improves the functioning of cardiac autonomic activity, which is required for the successful completion of mental tasks.Trial registered in the Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI/2018/01/011132).
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Singh et al. (2022) conducted an RCT in Healthy volunteers (yoga practitioners) (n=40). Slow yoga breathing (Alternate Nostril Breathing) vs. Pre-intervention baseline and Breath Awareness (active control) was evaluated on Reaction time (ms) in 2-back working memory task (-8.59% change, p=<0.01). Slow yoga breathing, specifically alternate nostril breathing, significantly reduced reaction time in the 2-back working memory task by 8.59% (p<0.01) and improved accuracy by 6.62% compared to baseline.
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