Effectiveness of short-term belly breathing training in individuals who work-from-home during the COVID-19 lockdown in India
Article Sidebar
-
Belly Breathing, COVID-19, Lockdown, Stress, Sleep
Abstract
COVID-19 impacted many lives around the globe, leading to a nationwide lockdown in India from the 25th of March 2020. Home confinement, physical and social isolation, the spread of false news through social media, fear of contracting the disease, lack of physical activity, and work-from-home situations have affected the mental status and sleep quality of individuals during the lockdown. We intended to identify the effect of belly breathing exercise in reducing the depression, anxiety and stress levels in individuals who work-from-home during the lockdown. A hundred participants were identified through snowball sampling and were divided into two equal groups. Group A received a health education program and belly breathing techniques, whereas group B was provided with a health education program alone. DASS 21 and single item Sleep Quality Scale was assessed before recruitment and after three weeks of intervention in both groups. Significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and stress levels were observed in group A (p<0.001) than that of group B. Participants who underwent belly breathing also reported significant improvement in sleep quality after three weeks of intervention. Belly breathing has found to be an effective and simple technique to instruct and perform, which significantly reduces depression, anxiety and stress levels in individuals who work from home and are in need of medical advice for their mental health status. We suggest the use of belly breathing in improving the mental status in any black swan events such as home quarantine or strict physical isolation measures, and even during any stressful situations.
Full text article
References
Andre, C. 2020. Proper Breathing Brings Better Health. Accessed: 9 September 2020.
Barkur, G., Vibha, Kamath, G. B. 2020. Sentiment analysis of nationwide lockdown due to COVID 19 outbreak: Evidence from India. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 51:102089. ISSN: 1876-2018.
Basu, S., Karmakar, A., Bidhan, V. 2020. Impact of lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak : lifestyle changes and public health concerns in India. Int J Indian Psychol, 8(2):1385–1411.
Brooks, S., Webster, R., Smith, L. 2020. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, 395(10227):30460–30468.
Cappelleri, J. C., Bushmakin, Mcdermott, A. G., M, A. 2020. Psychometric properties of a single-item scale to assess sleep quality among individuals with fibromyalgia. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 17(7):54.
Chen, Y., Huang, X., Chien, C. 2017. The Effectiveness of Diaphragmatic Breathing Relaxation for Reducing Anxiety. Perspect Psychiatr Care, 53(4):329–336.
Doll, A., Hölzel, B. K., Bratec, S. M., Boucard, C. C., Xie, X., Wohlschläger, A. M., Sorg, C. 2016. Mindful attention to breath regulates emotions via increased amygdala–prefrontal cortex connectivity. NeuroImage, 134(134):305–313. ISSN: 1053-8119.
Grover, S., Sahoo, S., Reddy, Y. C. J. 2020. Psychological impact of COVID-19 lockdown: An online survey from India. Indian J Psychiatry, 62(4):354.
Gulzhaina, K. K., Aigerim, K., Ospan, S. 2018. Stress management techniques for students. Advnces Soc Sci Educ Humanit Res, 198:47–56.
Jaiswal, A., Arun, C. J. 2020. Unlocking the COVID-19 Lockdown: Work from Home and Its Impact on Employees. Research Square, 1.
John, S., Rao, I., Padmaja, N. 2020. Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of 46 asymptomatic patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Paripex-Indian J Res, 9(8).
Kajander, R., Peper, E. 1998. Teaching diaphragmatic breathing to children. Biofeedback, 26(3):14–17.
Kochhar, A. S., Bhasin, R., Kochhar, G. K., Dadlani, H., Mehta, V. V., Kaur, R., Bhasin, C. K. 2020. Lockdown of 1.3 billion people in India during Covid-19 pandemic: A survey of its impact on mental health. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 54:102213. ISSN: 1876-2018.
Kumar, M., Dwivedi, S. 2020. Impact of Coronavirus Imposed Lockdown on Indian Population and their Habits. Int J Sci Healthc Res, 5(2):88–97.
Lovibond, S., Lovibond, P. 1995. Manual for the Depression Anxiety & Stress Scales. page 42, Sydney. Psychology Foundation. 2nd edition, OCLC Number: 222009504.
Majumdar, P., Biswas, A., Sahu, S. 2020. COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: cause of sleep disruption, depression, somatic pain, and increased screen exposure of office workers and students of India. Chronobiology International, 37(8):1191–1200. ISSN: 0742-0528, 1525-6073.
Nurcahyani, A. S., Runjati, Nugraheni, S. A. 2020. Giving Belly Breathing Technique and Positive Affirmation of Stress and Cortisol Hormone Levels in Third Trimester Pregnant Women. ISPHE: 2300250.
Salyers, M. P., Hudson, C., Morse, G., Rollins, A. L., Monroe-DeVita, M., Wilson, C., Freeland, L. 2011. BREATHE: A Pilot Study of a One-Day Retreat to Reduce Burnout Among Mental Health Professionals. Psychiatric Services, 62(2):214–217. ISSN: 1075-2730, 1557-9700.
Shaw, I., Shaw, B. S., Brown, G. A. 2010. Role of diaphragmatic breathing and aerobic exercise in improving pulmonary function and maximal oxygen consumption in asthmatics. Science and Sports, 25(3):139–145. ISSN: 0765-1597.
Stromberg, S. E., Russell, M. E., Carlson, C. R. 2015. Diaphragmatic Breathing and Its Effectiveness for the Management of Motion Sickness. Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, 86(5):452–457. ISSN: 2375-6314, 2375-6322.
The Lancet 2020. India under COVID-19 lockdown. 395(10233):30938–30945.
Varvogli, L., Darviri, C. 2011. Stress Management Techniques: Evidence-based procedures that reduce stress and promote health. Heal Sci J, 5:74– 89.
Wang, S. Z., Li, S., Xu, X. Y., Lin, G. P., Shao, L., Zhao, Y., Wang, T. H. 2010. Effect of Slow Abdominal Breathing Combined with Biofeedback on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability in Prehypertension. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(10):1039–1045.
Xiao, M., Yue, Z., Gong, Z. 2017. The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Front Psychol, 8(874):1–12.
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., Gemignani, A. 2018. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12:353–353. ISSN: 1662-5161.
Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.