Noman Sadiq*, Humaira Fayyaz Khan and Noor Nasir Rajpoot
Objective: To determine the effect of blowing balloon exercise in the modulation of heart rate variability.
Design: Pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study.
Subjects and methods: Sixty students diagnosed with moderate stress based on Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) proforma were enrolled in the study. Before and after a supervised blowing balloon exercise, the participants pulmonary function tests, electrocardiograms, and DASS scores were recorded. Participants' ECGs were recorded for ten minutes using the power lab model yam 4/25T.
Results: Blowing balloon exercise resulted in a significant reduction of DASS score (p<0.001), significant improvement in pulmonary function tests (p<0.001). Among heart rate variability parameters, the participants' standard deviation of successive N-N interval, high-frequency component, and high frequency normalized units were significantly increased (p<0.05) after blowing balloon exercise. Heart rate, low-frequency normalized units, and the ratio of lowfrequency normalized value to high-frequency normalized value were significantly reduced (p<0.05) after blowing balloon exercise.
Conclusions: Blowing balloon exercise enhances heart rate variability and pulmonary function tests in medical students while reducing their stress levels.
KeywordsHeart rate variability; Lab chart; Pulmonary function tests; Power lab; Stress
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