Effects of Fragmented Liuzijue Breathing Exercise on Sleep Quality, Anxiety, and Attention in College Students

Objective Health issues caused by prolonged sitting among college students are increasingly prominent, and fragmented exercise can provide an effective intervention. This study explored the application value of the traditional health-preserving exercise "Liuzijue" in fragmented exercise for college students through 10-minute training sessions during breaks conducted from April 2025 to May 2025. Methods A total of 34 college students (16 males and 18 females) were enrolled. After 6 weeks of Liuzijue breathing regulation training, serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels were measured. Anxiety status was assessed using psychological scales such as the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and sleep status was evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Selective attention was assessed via the Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT). Results After intervention, serum BDNF levels(22.6 ± 3.2 pg/ml) in the experimental group were significantly higher than those before intervention ༈15.2 ± 2.5 pg/ml༉and in the control group༈16.5 ± 2.8 pg/ml༉ (P < 0.01). SAS scores༈35.6 ± 4.2 points༉ and PSQI scores ༈4.8 ± 1.2 points༉in the experimental group were significantly lower than those before intervention ༈52.3 ± 5.8 points、11.2 ± 2.5 points༉and in the control group ༈50.9 ± 5.9 points、10.5 ± 2.2 points༉(P < 0.01). In the SCWT, the experimental group showed significantly shorter naming time༈59.6 ± 7.3 seconds༉ and fewer errors ༈2.1 ± 1.1 times༉in the interference task (conflicting color words), with significantly reduced time interference values༈24.9 ± 5.2 seconds༉ and error interference values༈0.9 ± 0.8 times༉ (P < 0.01), and these indices were significantly better than those in the control group༈76.5 ± 8.1 seconds、4.9 ± 1.2 times、41.7 ± 5.9 seconds、3.5 ± 1.3 times༉ (P < 0.01). However, there were no significant changes in indices of neutral tasks. No statistically significant differences were observed in all indices of the control group before and after intervention (P > 0.05). Conclusion This study confirms that Liuzijue breathing regulation can alleviate anxiety, improve sleep quality, and enhance attention by upregulating BDNF expression, providing research evidence for its application in anxiety prevention and treatment.