The immediate effect of incorporating short-term slow abdominal respiration into an exercise program on balance and the autonomic nervous system

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the possible effects of incorporating short-term slow-abdominal respiration (SAR) into an exercise program, on balance and the cardiac-related autonomic nervous system (ANS). Design: Cross-over repeated measures design. Methods: Fifteen young and healthy adults were randomly assigned into two groups (7 in the C-R group, 8 in the R-C group), each of which carried out both control sequence (C) and respiration-experiment sequence (R) in the inverse order. In the C sequence, the subjects performed passive exercises and a general exercise program (P-GEP). In the R sequence, the subjects received a short-term SAR training session and then performed the respiration incorporated general exercises program (R-RGEP). Before and after both C and R sequences, the length and the area of the displacement of the center of pressure (COP) and heart rate variability parameters were measured. Results: The total length of the COP displacement in the left single-leg-standing condition showed a significantly greater reduction after R-RGEP in the respiration-experiment sequence than after the P-GEP in the control sequence (p<0.05). The mean heart rate was significantly reduced only after R-RGEP in the respiration-experiment sequence (p<0.05) Conclusions: The slow-abdominal-respiration, trained in a simple manner and integrated into the exercise program in a single session, showed partially positive immediate effects on balance stabilization. The decrease in heart rate indicated possible involvement of the parasympathetic ANS activation in the stability, although it is not enough to decide whether it is purely due to the controlled respiration.