Effect of Application of an Alternate Nostril Breathing Exercise on Fatigue and Quality of Sleep Pattern among Nursing Students

Background: The higher the energy level, the more efficient body. The more efficient
body, the better feel and the more will use talent to produce outstanding results. Breathing
exercise is one of the yogic techniques that can produce different physiological responses in
healthy individuals. Aim: determine the effect of the application of an alternate nostril
breathing exercise on fatigue and sleep quality pattern among nursing students enrolled in the
Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt. Design: A quasi-experimental design was
used to conduct this study. Subjects: A simple random sample of 100 volunteers of first-year
nursing students enrolled in the winter semester of 2019 (males and females). Tools: Two
tools were used to collect the necessary data for the present study. The tool I: Alternate
nostril breathing assessment and tool II: Iowa Fatigue Scale. Results: indicated that regular
practice of alternate nostril breathing increases parasympathetic activity. Participants
experienced decrease levels of fatigue and improving the quality of sleep pattern. The
majority of participants agreed that work drains their energy every day, that they never have
enough time between classes to recover their energy, and that they dread waking up to
another day of work. Conclusion: Implementation of alternate nostril breathing exercises
helped in decreasing nursing students' fatigue levels before, during, and after their practice.
Also, it improved the quality of sleep patterns. Recommendations: Apply the proposed
protocol of alternate nostril breathing techniques. The developed colored illustrated booklet
regarding the alternate nostril breathing has to be distributed to the newly enrolled nursing
students each year. As well as fatigue in nursing students needs further study including the
application of the alternate nostril breathing exercises that address chronic and acute fatigue
and promote recovery.