Unveiling the impact of the 4-7-8 breathing technique on concentration, memory and anger among physiotherapy students - a randomized controlled trial

Background: The academic success of students relies on their ability to concentrate and remember information, with memory serving as a vital repository of experiences and knowledge. Concentration and memory are two important aspects in a student’s life. Each student shall have knowledge about improving their techniques. Without classroom concentration, students cannot memorize the subject matter. Even a student has good concentration, without memory, it may not be useful. Memory is an essential part of the studying skills which students will need in their transition from their schools where they have a few and limited information to the university where there are lots of sources and books which can be almost unlimited. Anger, a complex emotional state, can significantly impact students' classroom engagement and behavior. 4-7-8 breath is a new breathing technique, in which the numbers 4-7-8 refers to counts of inspiration, holding the breath and expiration respectively which overcomes the expiratory defect. The aim of the study was“To check the effectiveness of 4-7-8 breathing technique on concentration, memory and anger in physiotherapy students”. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was done with total of 52 participants, comprising college-level male and female students from Shrimad Rajchandra College of Physiotherapy, were selected for the study based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided into two distinct groups: a controlled group and an experimental group. Both groups were instructed to complete a pre-data form. Subsequently, the experimental group engaged in a breathing technique utilizing the 4-7-8 method for a duration of 5 days, three times daily. Following this intervention, post-data forms were collected for comparative analysis. Result: A total of 52 participants were screened for comparison betweenexperimental and control group. Normally testing was done which showed that data was following normal distribution hence oneway ANOVA test was used for analysis. The study found that implementing the 4-7-8 Breathing technique did not result in significant improvements in concentration, memory, or anger control among college physiotherapy students over a five-day period. (p>0.05). Conclusion: Based on the research findings, it was evident that the 4-7-8 Breathing technique may not be beneficial for college-going students in improving concentration, memory, and anger control, though the intervention had been implemented for 5 days. This could be a limiting factor towards the outcomes achieved. Therefore, physiotherapists/clinician utilizing this technique may consider extending its duration, as this may potentially yield positive results.