An interventional study of Mindfulness Breathing and Box Breathing in Breathing Exercises and Healthy Volunteers, sponsored by Atlas University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Open to participants aged 18 Years to 40 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-11.
Sponsored by Atlas University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Help build ClinicalTrials.gg — short surveys, remote interviews or testing, in your language. Take part →
This randomized controlled trial compared the effects of Mindfulness Breathing, Box Breathing, and Nadi Shodhana Pranayama on heart rate variability, attention performance, reaction time, and anxiety in healthy adults aged 18-40 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three breathing intervention groups and practiced their assigned technique daily for six weeks. Primary outcomes included resting heart rate, RMSSD, and respiratory rate derived from 5-minute heart rate variability recordings. Secondary outcomes included attention performance assessed by the Digit Cancellation Test, reaction time assessed using the BlazePod system, and state and trait anxiety assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Participants received standardized face-to-face instruction, home practice videos, and daily WhatsApp reminders throughout the intervention.
Healthy adults aged 18-40 years were recruited using convenience sampling and randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to Mindfulness Breathing, Box Breathing, or Nadi Shodhana Pranayama. Participants received an individual face-to-face training session delivered by the same physiotherapist, practiced their assigned breathing technique under supervision until correct performance was confirmed, and subsequently performed daily home-based practice for six weeks using standardized instructional videos. Daily WhatsApp reminders containing the appropriate video link were sent to support adherence.
Heart rate variability was assessed using a Polar H10 heart rate monitor with 5-minute resting recordings analyzed using Kubios HRV software. Attention performance was measured using the Digit Cancellation Test, reaction time was assessed using the BlazePod wireless reaction system, and anxiety outcomes were evaluated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Assessments were performed at baseline and after six weeks.
7,207 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,682 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 48 is below the median of 80 across 6,062 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.
Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →Atlas University is the lead sponsor of 96 studies on the registry; 25 are open to participants now.
Compared within Anxiety Disorders, the registry's first condition term, which may not be this study's main condition. Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants practiced mindful awareness of their natural breathing without intentionally altering breathing rhythm during daily home sessions for six weeks.
Behavioral: Mindfulness Breathing
Participants performed a structured 4-4-4-4 breathing cycle consisting of 4 seconds of inhalation, 4 seconds of breath holding, 4 seconds of exhalation, and a 4-second post-exhalation pause during daily home practice for six weeks.
Behavioral: Box Breathing
Participants performed alternate nostril breathing with controlled inhalation and exhalation while maintaining a slow and rhythmic breathing pattern during daily home practice for six weeks.
Behavioral: Nadi Shodhana Pranayama
Participants received an individual face-to-face training session from the same physiotherapist, practiced under supervision until correct performance was confirmed, and subsequently performed daily home-based mindfulness breathing for six weeks using standardized instructional videos and daily WhatsApp reminders.
Participants received standardized face-to-face instruction and performed daily home-based Box Breathing using a 4-second inhalation, 4-second breath hold, 4-second exhalation, and 4-second pause for six weeks, supported by instructional videos and daily WhatsApp reminders.
Participants received standardized face-to-face instruction and performed daily home-based alternate nostril breathing for six weeks using instructional videos and daily WhatsApp reminders.
Resting Heart Rate
Resting heart rate (beats per minute) measured from a 5-minute seated recording using the Polar H10 heart rate monitor (Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland).
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD)
RMSSD (milliseconds), a vagally mediated heart rate variability parameter, derived from 5-minute RR interval recordings analyzed using Kubios HRV software.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
Respiratory Rate
Respiratory rate (breaths per minute) obtained from the 5-minute Polar H10 recording.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
Digit Cancellation Test Score
Attention performance is assessed using the Digit Cancellation Test by recording the number of correctly identified targets within 30 seconds. Higher scores indicate better sustained and selective attention performance.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
BlazePod Reaction Time
Reaction time assessed using a single BlazePod wireless light-based reaction system with the dominant hand. The system recorded average reaction time, number of successful responses, and number of errors.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
Anxiety
Anxiety assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Scores range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater state anxiety.
Time frame: Baseline and Week 6
Plan to share: No — Individual participant data will not be made publicly available.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Sep 2025 to primary completion in Jun 2026, 9 months.
Of 3,841 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Anxiety Disorders, half reached primary completion within 12 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28. This study's 9 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,943 studies reached it within 12 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Atlas University