A growing number of empirical studies have revealed that diaphragmatic breathing may trigger body relaxation responses and benefit both physical and mental health. However, the specific benefits of diaphragmatic breathing on mental health remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of diaphragmatic breathing on cognition, affect, and cortisol responses to stress. Forty participants were randomly assigned to either a breathing intervention group or a control group. The breathing intervention group received intensive training for 20 sessions, implemented over 8 weeks, employing a real-time feedback device, and an average respiratory rate of 4 breaths/minute, while the control group did not receive this treatment. All participants completed pre- and post-tests of sustained attention and affect. Additionally, pre-test and post-test salivary cortisol concentrations were determined in both groups. The findings suggested that the breathing intervention group showed a significant decrease in negative affect after intervention, compared to baseline. In the diaphragmatic breathing condition, there was a significant interaction effect of group by time on sustained attention, whereby the breathing intervention group showed significantly increased sustained attention after training, compared to baseline. There was a significant interaction effect of group and time in the diaphragmatic breathing condition on cortisol levels, whereby the breathing intervention group had a significantly lower cortisol level after training, while the control group showed no significant change in cortisol levels. In conclusion, diaphragmatic breathing could improve sustained attention, affect, and cortisol levels. This study provided evidence demonstrating the effect of diaphragmatic breathing, a mindbody practice, on mental function, from a health psychology approach, which has important implications for health promotion in healthy individuals.

(1) Background: Given that the most effective dose, optimal type, and most beneficial population for improving sleep with mindfulness-based movement (MBM) remains unknown, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis with moderator analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess these effects. (2) Methods: Three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCO) were systematically searched for RCTs published through August 2021 for analysis. The risk of bias of the included studies was assessed with Review Manager 5.3, and the meta-analysis was performed in Stata 16.0. (3) Results: A meta-analysis of 61 RCTs with 2697 participants showed that MBM significantly improved sleep quality compared to controls (SMD = −0.794; 95% CI: −0.794 to −0.994, p < 0.001, I² = 90.7%). Moderator analysis showed that a long-term MBM (SMD = −0.829; 95% CI: 0.945 to 0.712; p < 0.001) had a larger effect size on sleep than a short-term MBM (SMD = −0.714; 95% CI: 0.784 to 0.644; p < 0.001). Practicing at least twice per week (SMD = −0.793; 95% CI: −0.868 to −0.718; p < 0.001) was more effective compared to practicing once per week (SMD = −0.687; 95% CI: −0.804 to −0.570; p < 0.001). Studies with a total intervention time of more than 24 h also revealed better sleep quality improvement (SMD = −0.759; 95% CI: −0.865 to −0.653; p < 0.001). In addition, the healthy population and older adults gained more from MBM than the patients and younger adults. (4) Conclusions: MBM can effectively improve subjective sleep quality, and the optimal intervention dose of MBM can be utilized in future intervention studies to treat or improve sleep disturbance (MBM more than twice a week for more than three months, with a total intervention time of more than 24 h).

Purpose: Poor vision is prevalent in school-aged students, especially in East Asia. This can not only cause irreversibly physical health impairments like glaucoma and cataracts, but also the loss of individual education and employment opportunities and deterioration of the quality of life. The present study aims to investigate the associations between poor vision, vision-related risk behaviors, and mathematics achievement in youth from China. Methods: The present study included a total of 106,192 Grade 4 students and 70,236 Grade 8 students from the China National Assessment of Educational Quality-Physical Education & Health 2015 (CNAEQ-PEH 2015). We conducted a standard logarithmic visual acuity scale for vision screening, a self-reported questionnaire for vision-related risk behavior and a standardized mathematics assessment for mathematics performance. Poor vision is defined as the visual acuity below 5.0 by using the standard logarithmic visual acuity chart. Linear regression was conducted. Results: The prevalence rate of poor vision in China was 37.1% in Grade 4 and 66.2% in Grade 8 in 2015. Students who had poor vision were more likely to have better mathematics achievement than those with normal vision. Reading in bed, insufficient sleep, and screen time during weekdays and weekends were associated with higher odds of poor vision. Conclusions: Poor vision was positively associated with mathematics academic achievements, while vision-related risk behaviors such as screen time, homework time and reading in bed were associated with a high prevalence of poor vision in compulsory education cycle students.

Purpose: This study examined the prevalence of different weight status and the relationships between weight status and physical fitness among Chinese children and youth. Methods: Participants were 107,206 Grade 4 children and 70,213 Grade 8 youth from the China National Assessment of Educational Quality – Physical Education & Health in 2015 (CNAEQ-PEH 2015). Using World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria, weight status was divided into four groups (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese) according to Body Mass Index (BMI). The differences of physical fitness performances (15-m progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run [PACER], standing long jump, and 50-m sprint) among four weight status groups were compared. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, MANCOVA, and Cohen’s d. Results: The prevalence of weight status varied by criteria (e.g., for Grade 4 boys, the prevalence of underweight by WHO and CDC were 5.9% and 10.5%; overweight were 14.5% and 11.4%, respectively). Compared with the normal weight group, the selected physical fitness performances in the overweight and obese groups were worse (p < .001) with small to large effect sizes. Conclusion: The prevalence of underweight and overweight/obese was relatively high among Chinese children and youth. The prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity varied slightly depending on the criteria used for evaluating BMI. The overweight/obese participants tended to perform poorer in selected physical fitness tests. The performance disparities between the normal weight group and overweight/obese groups were larger in Grade 4 than in Grade 8 and among boys than among girls.