Effect of short-term breathing exercise training on perceived stress and Stroop effect in chronic smartphone users

Background: Mobile phones occupy a significant place in our day to day life. Psychological stress involves the relationship between an individual and the environment and this is appraised by the individual as a threat to his wellbeing. Stroop effect is considered as an indicator of attention disorder and general mood fluctuations. Aim: To study the effect of six weeks of breathing exercise training on perceived stress and stroop effect in chronic smart phone users. Materials and methods: After obtaining approval from the Institute Human Research and Ethics Committee, present study was conducted at Department of Physiology, Govt. Thiruvarur Medical College, Thiruvarur on 60 healthy volunteers (30 females and 30 males) who use smart phones more than 4 hours/day for 1 year were included in the study. Breathing exercise training was given to them for 15 minutes in two sessions per day for 5 days in a week for a total period of 6 weeks. Perceived Stress Score (PSS) and Stroop effect was recorded before and after 6 weeks of study period. Intergroup comparison was done by Student's unpaired t-test. and intra group comparison was done by Student's paired t-test. Results: Average age of the male and female volunteers was 19.9 +1.18 and 19.5+1.07 respectively. There was a significant decrease in Perceived Stress (p<0.001 and p<0.01) among the male and female volunteers respectively. Also there was a statistically significant improvement in stroop effect in male (p<0.001) and female volunteers (p<0.01). The improvements were higher in males compared to females. Conclusion: Results of our study indicates that regular practice of breathing exercises even for short duration like six weeks improves autonomic functions, reduces perceived stress which in turn improves stoop effect.