Abstract

Background: There is enough evidence where deep breathing, Yoga and meditation have produced good results regarding memory, concentrating capacity, attention span and cognitive levels but when practiced for long duration. There is very little data available regarding their effects when practiced for short duration. Time management has a key role to play in our stressful and busy life.

Aims & Objective: To study the effects of slow deep breathing for short duration (5 min) on the cognitive levels.

Materials and Methods: 71 apparently healthy first year MBBS students participated in the study. Students not willing to participate were excluded from the study. Revan’s Standard Progressive Matrices were used to assess the cognitive levels. It consists of five different levels A, B, C, D, and E. Each has twelve questions. Participants were made to solve the matrices before and after five minutes of slow deep breathing (six seconds of inhalation and six seconds of exhalation) Time they took to solve the matrices and their scores before and after slow deep breathing were noted. Data was analysed using students “t” test.

Results: There is statistically significant improvement in the time they took to solve the matrices after slow deep breathing (13.63 ± 1.76 min) compared to basal values (26.70 ± 6.62 min). p value was 0.0001 for the ‘t’ value of 16.07. There is improvement in the scores after slow deep breathing (50.54 ± 6.28) when compared to basal values (50.25 ± 7.24) but is not statistically significant. p value was 0.71 for the ‘t’ value of 0.25.

Conclusion: Slow deep breathing even for short duration of five minutes is beneficial. Students can be advised for slow deep breathing for five minutes before starting any class for their better academic performance.

Key words: Slow Deep Breathing; Revan’s Standard Progressive Matrices; Cognitive Levels