Effects of Deep Breathing Exercise on Pulmonary Function, Perceived Stress and Physical Fitness Among Healthy Smokers

The volume of air which can be forcefully expelled from the lungs after taking a deep breath is known as forced vital capacity (FVC). The normal range of FVC for an adult lies between 3.0 and 5.0 L (29). The participant will be asked to seal their lips tightly over the mouthpiece and inhale as deeply as possible. Then they will exhale as forcefully as they can.

FEV1 assesses how much air an individual can forcefully exhale. The forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) is the volume of air (in liters) exhaled in the first second during forced exhalation after maximal inspiration. The forced expiratory volume (FEV) can be calculated for the first, second, and/or third seconds of the forced breath. With reference to GOLD range of COPD, the normal value for FEV is <80. An FEV1 of less than 1 L indicates significant lung disease. For correct measures, the procedure will be repeated 3 times, and then the best value will be taken. The FEV1 is the measurement of dynamic volume most often used in conjunction with the FVC in analysis of spirometry.

A more precise measure of personal stress can be determined by using a variety of instruments that have been designed to help measure individual stress levels. The first of these is called the Perceived Stress Scale. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is a classic stress assessment instrument. It was originally developed in 1983.

The six minute walking test (6MWT) will be used to determine the physical fitness. Each patient will be administered a 6-minute walk test. Two cones will be placed 100 feet apart in a hallway. Patients will instructed to walk as many laps around the cones as possible. A calibrated electronic pedometer (Omron Health Care Corporation, Vernon Hills, IL) will be worn on the hip of each patient to obtain the total number of steps taken during the test. Researcher will stand at the center of the 100-foot course and will encourage the patient after every 2 minutes. The researcher will record the time and distance to onset of exhaustion as well as the total distance walked and the total number of steps taken during the test. The walking distances will be subsequently converted from feet to meters.

To determine the sleep quality, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) will be used. It was designed to evaluate overall sleep quality in the populations with an internal reliability of a = .83, a test-retest reliability of .85 for the global scale, a sensitivity of 89.6%, and a specificity of 86.5%. Each of the questionnaire's 19 self-reported items belongs to one of seven subcategories: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction.