Effects of physical activity breaks during prolonged sitting on vascular and executive function-A randomised cross-over trial.

Objectives: High sedentary behaviour is associated with adverse effects on central vascular function and cognitive function. Although interventions to mitigate the adverse effects of workplace sitting are intriguing, evidence of the efficacy of such interventions remains lacking. This randomised cross-over trial was aimed at exploring the effectiveness of prolonged sitting, with or without physical activity breaks, on central, peripheral vascular and cognitive function in adults. Methods: Twenty one healthy adults completed 4 h of simulated work conditions in three experimental visits: (1) uninterrupted sitting (SIT); (2) sitting interrupted by 3 min of walking every hour (LIT); and (3) sitting interrupted by 3 min of stair climbing every hour (MIT). Carotid (CA) and superficial femoral artery (SFA) diameter, velocity, shear rate and blood flow were measured with Duplex ultrasound at 50 MHz at three time points (hours 0, 2 and 4), and executive function was assessed with the computer based Eriksen Flanker task every hour. Results: The decreases in reaction time (-30.59%) and accuracy (-10.56%) during SIT conditions were statistically significant, and less of a decrease was observed under LIT and MIT conditions. No significant differences in CA and SFA function were observed with LIT and MIT interventions. Conclusion: Physical activity breaks of varying intensity during prolonged sitting improve reaction time. However, the vascular benefits of physical activity breaks should be confirmed in the future through long term studies in natural environment.

Effect of Bhramari Pranayama on the Acoustic and Aerodynamic Parameters of Voice in Normophonic Females.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Pranayama is known for improving various health conditions. The present study is aimed at investigating the effects of bhramari pranayama on aerodynamic and acoustic parameters of voice in healthy individuals. STUDY DESIGN: This is a pretest-posttest design study. METHODS: A total of 24 participants in the age range of 20 to 25 years completed the bhramari pranayama regimen for 30 sessions. Aerodynamic and acoustic assessments were done before and after pranayama sessions. Maximum phonation duration, pitch, loudness, subglottal pressure, glottal airflow, laryngeal resistance and conductance along with acoustical parameters such as average F0, jitter, and shimmer, soft phonation index, noise to harmonic ratio, cepstral peak prominence, and smoothened cepstral peak prominence were analysed. RESULTS: The results revealed significant improvement in the maximum phonation duration, glottal airflow and pressure, average fundamental frequency, and cepstral peak prominence after practice suggesting that it has an effect on voice parameters. CONCLUSION: Bhramari pranayama is effective in improving the acoustic and aerodynamic parameters of voice. The same needs to be investigated in hyper- and hypofunctional voice disorders in the future studies.