Influence of Slow-Paced Breathing on Inhibition After Physical Exertion

Abstract

This research aims to investigate whether slow-paced breathing (SPB) improves adaptation to psychological stress, and specifically inhibition, when it is performed before or after physical exertion (PE). According to the resonance model, SPB is expected to increase cardiac vagal activity (CVA). Further, according to the neurovisceral integration model, CVA is positively linked to executive cognitive performance, and would thus play a role in the adaptation to psychological stress. We hypothesized that SPB, in comparison to a control condition, will induce a better adaptation to psychological stress, measured via better inhibitory performance. Two within-subject experiments were conducted with athletes: in the first experiment ( N = 60) SPB (or control – neutral TV documentary) was realized before PE (“relax before PE”), and in the second experiment ( N = 60) SPB (or the watching TV control) was realized after PE (“relax after PE”). PE consisted of 5 min Burpees, a physical exercise involving the whole body. In both experiments the adaptation to psychological stress was investigated with a Stroop task, a measure of inhibition, which followed PE. Perceived stress increased during PE (partial η 2 = 0.63) and during the Stroop task (partial η 2 = 0.08), and decreased during relaxation (partial η 2 = 0.15), however, no effect of condition was found. At the physiological level PE significantly increased HR, RF, and decreased CVA [operationalized in this research via the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD)] in both experiments. Further, the number of errors in the incongruent category (Stroop interference accuracy) was found to be lower in the SPB condition in comparison to the control condition, however, these results were not mediated by RMSSD. Additionally, the Stroop interference [reaction times (RTs)] was found to be lower overall in “relax before PE,” however, no effect was found regarding SPB and Stroop interference (RTs). Overall, our results suggest that SPB realized before or after PE has a positive effect regarding adaptation to psychological stress and specifically inhibition, however, the underlying mechanisms require further investigation.

Using Slow-Paced Breathing to Foster Endurance, Well-Being, and Sleep Quality in Athletes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Future studies on the effects of SPB on the variables discussed here should perform SPB either within a single testing session (Laborde et al, 2019b;You et al, 2021) or following a number of daily sessions, for instance over four to 8 weeks (Schumann et al, 2019;Laborde et al, 2019a). In both cases, the variables of interest should be measured before and directly after the intervention.…”

From ego depletion to self-control fatigue: A review of criticisms along with new perspectives for the investigation and replication of a multicomponent phenomenon

“…Therefore, other auxiliary hypotheses should be tested prior to such rejections. In this context, preliminary results investigating perceived fatigue and cardiovascular response as self-control resources are promising (Francis et al, 2018;Laborde et al, 2019).…”

“…Moreover, we recommend focusing on the untested auxiliary hypotheses of ego depletion. Specifically, future studies should investigate the role of resources, such as perceived energy (e.g., Forestier et al, 2018;Rouse et al, 2013), perceived fatigue (Francis et al, 2018;Hirt et al, 2016), or cardiac makers (Laborde et al, 2019;; the role of willingness, such as motivation, attention (Inzlicht & Schmeichel, 2012), vigilance (Lin et al, 2020), or decisions related to effort cost (Kool & Botvinick, 2014); and the role of self-control capacity, such as inhibition and attention (for a review, see Wagner & Heatherton, 2016). We also recommend focusing on the boundary conditions of ego-depletion emergence, as few studies have examined potential moderators of ego depletion, such as trait of self-control (Imhoff et al, 2014), perceived success attainability , effort (Dang, 2016;Drummond & Philipp, 2017;Prem et al, 2016;, and perceived fatigue (Vohs et al, 2021), despite the importance of such information to understanding ego depletion.…”

Can we catch flies with vinegar? Recurrent issues in ego-depletion studies, and potential solutions

“…2 Although studies that operationalized resources through glucose failed to confirm such hypotheses, other studies using resources perception or cardiovascular markers to operationalize self-control resources provide support to the assumption that effortful self-control strategies rely on resources availability (e.g., Clarkson et al, 2016;Forestier et al, 2018;Laborde et al, 2019;Tyler & Burns, 2009). within the updated self-control definition proposed in the contemporary literature (e.g., de Ridder et al, 2018;Fujita, 2011;Gillebaart, 2018;Milyavskaya et al, 2019).…”