Neurophysiological Effects of Pranayama on Brain-Wave Modulation: An EEG-Based Analytical Study of Alpha, Beta, Theta, and Delta Activity

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Background: Pranayama is usually defined as slow nasal breathing and involves the control of the breathing rate, route, and timing, accompanied by a high degree of concentration.It is still not clear how this type of breathing exercise influences the autonomic system and respiration-coupled neural activity, and little research has been done to measure the effects of pranayama on the four major brain wave frequencies -alpha, beta, theta, and delta -in a controlled setting.The objective of this work is to provide the basis of an analytic framework based on electroencephalography (EEG) to assess the short-term effects of Nadi Shodhana pranayama in a highly regulated experiment as compared to quiet seated rest.The example synthetic demonstration data used in this work included a sample of 60 healthy adults who participated in one of the two conditions of either 20 minutes of pranayama or seated rest.Baseline (T0) and resting, eyes-closed EEG were collected post-condition (T1) and post a 10-minute recovery period (T2).Change in relative spectral power for the 4 frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta) was computed.A 2 (condition) by 3 (time) mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, and each of the group, time, and group-by-time effects were analyzed.The primary analysis was augmented with effect sizes, Holm-adjusted contrasts, correlations, and multiple regression.Findings: A significant interaction effect for group and time was found for alpha power, F(1.48, 85.56) = 7.13, p = 0.004, partial η² = 0.110.In the pranayama group, alpha power increased (adjusted mean: 2.48) compared to the control group (adjusted mean: 0.37) with an approximate 95% confidence interval of 0.64 to 1.74 for Hedges g = 1.19.A clear interaction was found for beta power, while effects for delta and theta were much smaller and interpreted based on p-values and intervals.The pranayama condition resulted in more favorable outcomes for breathing rate, heartIn this synthetic analytical demonstration, it was found that pranayama brought about a considerable increase in alpha power and brought about a reduction of beta power when compared to quiet rest.The differences seen in theta and delta of the groups were small and of no statistical significance.The framework shows how upcoming preregistered studies can capture the integration of EEG quality control, repeated-measures modelling, effect-size estimation and open data practices.