Short-Term Effects of Mindful Uni-Nostril Breathing on Cardio-Autonomic Functions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Satyam Tiwari, Arnav Bhavsar

2025

Abstract

Uni-nostril mindful breathing, an ancient yogic practice, has been suggested to influence autonomic nervous system function differentially, yet systematic evidence remains limited. This randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of nostril-specific breathing techniques on autonomic nervous system modulation in healthy adults. Ninety participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: left-nostril breathing, right-nostril breathing, or a control group performing unstructured breathing for 10 minutes. HRV parameters and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were collected pre-and post-intervention. Left nostril breathing significantly decreased HRV parameters (SDNN: -27.0%, RMSSD: -25.1%) while increasing SI (+37.4%) and SNS activity (+98.7%), therefore suggesting increased sympathetic activation. With little impact on other autonomic indicators, right-nostril breathing showed significant decreases in both systolic (-5.5 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (-3.3 mmHg). These results support nostril-specific breathing as a simple, non-pharmacological technique for autonomic modulation, offering prospective applications in stress and cardiovascular management, with varying effects dependent upon nostril selection.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Tiwari S. and Bhavsar A. (2025). Short-Term Effects of Mindful Uni-Nostril Breathing on Cardio-Autonomic Functions: A Randomized Controlled Trial. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: BIOSIGNALS; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3, SciTePress, pages 784-792. DOI: 10.5220/0013262500003911

in Bibtex Style

@conference{biosignals25,
author={Satyam Tiwari and Arnav Bhavsar},
title={Short-Term Effects of Mindful Uni-Nostril Breathing on Cardio-Autonomic Functions: A Randomized Controlled Trial},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: BIOSIGNALS},
year={2025},
pages={784-792},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013262500003911},
isbn={978-989-758-731-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 1: BIOSIGNALS
TI - Short-Term Effects of Mindful Uni-Nostril Breathing on Cardio-Autonomic Functions: A Randomized Controlled Trial
SN - 978-989-758-731-3
AU - Tiwari S.
AU - Bhavsar A.
PY - 2025
SP - 784
EP - 792
DO - 10.5220/0013262500003911
PB - SciTePress