Effects of Moderate Exercise and Cyclic Sighing on Stress, Cognition and Physiological Markers in Young Adults

A Comparison of Psychophysiological Effects Between Relaxation Techniques and Physical Exercise in Young Adults

This study investigates the effects of moderate physical exercise and cyclic sighing (breathing training) on stress, cognition, and physiological markers in young adults. It is a randomized cross-over trial with two interventions. Each participant will take part in two intervention sessions:

1. Moderate-intensity physical activity (PA): 15 minutes of stationary cycling at 65-75% of maximum heart rate (HRmax).
2. Breathing training (CS): 15 minutes of cyclic sighing, a technique involving inhaling, pausing briefly, taking a deeper breath, and exhaling slowly.

A one-week washout period between sessions is planned to minimise carry-over effects and to ensure participants' physiological state is similar before the next session. During this week, participants will wear Polar Ignite wrist-worn devices to monitor physical activity and sleep.

A total of 30 participants (you adults) will be enrolled.

Measurements performed before and after each intervention include:

• EEG using Emotiv EPOC Flex Gel (32-channel device): 2 minutes with eyes open, 2 minutes with eyes closed, during the interventions, and while performing cognitive test (N-back).
• Heart rate variability (HRV) using the Polar H10 sensor.
• SUDS - Subjective Units of Disress Scale for perceived stress.
• N-back test for cognitive performance using Emotiv App.
• Blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and heart rate.
• Pain threshold measured with a dolorimeter.
• PANAS-SF - Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.

Baseline questionnaires completed by participants the day before the study:

• PSS-10 - Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, Mermelstein).
• MAAS - Mindful Attention Awareness Scale
• Psychological well-being - short version
• Mini-COPE - Coping with Stress Inventory
• Sleep quality and average sleep duration
• Chronotype questionnaire (morningness-eveningness)
• GPAQ - Global Physical Activity Questionnaire
• Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

The study aims to understand how brief interventions like moderate exercise and breathing techniques affect stress, cognitive performance, and physiological responses in young adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity (PA); Behavioral: Breathing Training - Cyclic Sighing (CS)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jóźwiak; Phone Number: (61) 835 53 49; Email: b.jozwiak@awf.poznan.pl

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• male or female participants,
• age 18-35,
• without chronic somatic diseases,
• no current episode of psychiatric disorder (no active depression, mania, or psychosis),
• regular sleep schedule in the week prior to the study,
• not taking psychotropic drugs or medications,
• non-smoker,
• not working nightshifts.

Exclusion Criteria:

• consumption of alcohol or psychoactive substances the day before or on the day of the study,
• intense physical activity less than 2 hours before the study,
• consuming coffee, black tee, energy drinks less than 2 hours before the study,
• contraindications to moderate-intensity physical activity on cycle ergometer (e.g., recent injuries),
• contraindications to EEG (e.g., scalp skin conditions preventing proper electrode placement, hypersensitivity to conductive gels or pastes).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity (PA); Participants perform 15 minutes of stationary cycling at moderate intensity.	Behavioral: Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity (PA); Participants perform 15 minutes of stationary cycling at moderate intensity.
Experimental: Breathing Training - Cyclic Sighing (CS); Participants perform 15 minutes of cyclic sighing.	Behavioral: Breathing Training - Cyclic Sighing (CS); Participants perform 15 minutes of cyclic sighing (a breathing technique).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean EEG spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, gamma frequency bands during resting-state (eyes-open and eyes-closed)	Mean spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma frequency bands derived from resting-state EEG recordings collected during eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Spectral power will be calculated separately for eyes-open and eyes-closed resting-state conditions.	Baseline: immediately before intervention; Post-intervention: immediately after completion of the intervention period
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)	HRV will be recorded at three time points. Baseline HRV will be calculated as the average over a 5-minute resting-state period immediately before intervention. HRV during the intervention will be calculated as the average over the entire intervention session (periprocedural). Post-intervention HRV will be calculated as the average over a 5-minute resting-state period immediately after intervention.	Baseline (average over 5-minute resting-state immediately before intervention); During intervention (average over entire session, periprocedural); Post-intervention (average over 5-minute resting-state immediately after intervention).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mean EEG spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma frequency bands during N-back task	Mean spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma frequency bands derived from EEG recordings collected during performance of the N-back cognitive task. Spectral power will be calculated separately for each frequency band and averaged across all EEG channels.	Baseline (during N-back task immediately before each intervention session, periprocedural); Post-intervention (during N-back task immediately after each intervention session, periprocedural)
Mean EEG spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma frequency bands during intervention session	Mean spectral power in theta, alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma frequency bands derived from EEG recordings collected during the intervention session. Spectral power will be calculated separately for each frequency band and averaged across all EEG channels.	During intervention session (periprocedural, averaged over entire session)
Perceived Stress measured with the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)	Participants rate their perceived stress using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS), a self-reported scale ranging from 0 (no stress) to 100 (extreme stress), where higher scores indicate higher perceived stress.	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session
Cognitive Performance (N-back)	Working memory assessed using N-back test with Emotiv app.	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session
Blood Pressure	Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured using standard protocols.	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session
Pain Threshold	Pain threshold measured using a dolorimeter (algorimeter)	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session
Positive and Negative Affect measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - Short Form (PANAS-SF)	Participants complete the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule - Short Form (PANAS-SF), a self-reported scale assessing positive and negative affect. Each subscale contains 10 items rated from 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely), giving a possible score range of 10-50 for each subscale. Higher scores indicate higher levels of positive or negative affect, depending on the subscale.	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session
Heart Rate	Heart rate measured using standard protocols.	Baseline: immediately before each intervention session; Post-intervention: immediately after each intervention session

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Psychological Well-Being measured with the Short Version of Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale	Participants complete the Short Version of Ryff's Psychological Well-Being Scale, a self-reported questionnaire assessing psychological well-being across multiple dimensions. Items are rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree), giving a total possible score range of 18-108, where higher scores indicate higher levels of psychological well-being.	Day before first intervention.
Trait Mindfulness measured with the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)	Participants complete the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), a self-reported questionnaire measuring trait mindfulness. Items are rated on a scale from 1 (almost always) to 6 (almost never), with total scores ranging from 15 to 90. Higher scores indicate higher levels of trait mindfulness.	Day before first intervention.
Coping with Stress measured with the Brief COPE Inventory (mini-COPE)	Participants complete the Brief COPE Inventory (mini-COPE), a self-reported questionnaire assessing coping strategies and stress management. Each item is rated on a scale from 1 (I haven't been doing this at all) to 4 (I've been doing this a lot), with total subscale scores ranging from 2 to 8, depending on the subscale. Higher scores indicate greater use of the specific coping strategy.	Day before first intervention.
Chronotype measured with the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ)	Participants complete the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) to assess chronotype, indicating morningness-eveningness preference. Items are scored to give a total score ranging from 16 to 86, where higher scores indicate greater morningness and lower scores indicate greater eveningness.	Day before first intervention.
Global Physical Activity measured with the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)	Participants complete the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) to assess baseline physical activity levels. Responses are used to calculate total physical activity expressed in MET-minutes per week, with higher scores indicating higher levels of physical activity.	Day before first session.
Sleep Quality and Duration (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index)	Participants complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep quality and average sleep duration.	Day before first session.
Objective Sleep and Physical Activity (Polar Ignite)	Participants wear Polar Ignite wrist-worn devices to monitor sleep quality and duration, as well as daily physical activity levels.	During the 1-week washout period between intervention sessions.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Poznan University of Physical Education

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 19, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 23, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): January 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 23, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 716/25

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified individual participant data (IPD) will be shared in the RepOD repository after study completion. An embargo of up to 36 months may apply to allow for publication of primary study results. Data will be available for scientific research purposes.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No