Effect of alternate nostril breathing on evoked potentials among internet addicts

Abstract

Increased availability of smartphones and easy access to the internet among adolescents has resulted in Internet Addiction (IA). Effects of IA and Pranayama on evoked potential are available but studies on the comparison of immediate and 6-week effects of alternate nostril breathing on evoked potentials among medicos with internet addiction are not available as per our search in PubMed, hence the study was chosen. In this comparative study 100 male and female medical students aged between 18-25 years, with internet addiction scores ≥ 50 were included as study participants. P300 auditory event-related potential and pattern reversal visual evoked potential (VEP) were recorded before, immediately, and 6 weeks after practicing pranayama. Repeated measure ANOVA shows statistically significant change (P<0.05) in P300 amplitude, P100 latency, N145 latency, and VEP amplitude. The post hoc Bonferroni test shows that P100 latency and N145 latency significantly reduced immediately after 15 minutes of pranayama. P300 amplitude and VEP amplitude significantly increased only after practicing pranayama for 6 weeks. Pranayama has an immediate effect on latency, but it takes 6 weeks of practice to significantly change amplitude.

Keywords: Alternate nostril breathing; internet addiction; p300; visual evoked potential.