Effect of short-term abdominal breathing on heart rate variability as an indicator of emotional regulation in college student with internet gaming disorder

Online games are becoming increasingly popular, but a corresponding problem has emerged: Internet gaming disorder (IGD). IGD refers to problematic game use, where gaming results in problems with cognition and emotional regulation. Abdominal breathing (AB) is one method of psychophysiological reaction regulation. However, few studies have explored the effect of AB on gamers with IGD. In this study, we investigated the effects of short-term AB training (10 min) on the heart rate variability (HRV) of college students with IGD as they watched positive and negative online gaming videos. In total, 21 and 19 participants with low-risk IGD and high-risk IGD (HIGD), respectively, were included in the analysis. The results revealed that AB training was associated with increases in the natural logarithms of the total power and low-frequency HRV of the HIGD group during both video stimuli (p < .01). The difference in the natural logarithm of total power and low-frequency HRV between before and after AB was a predictor of IGD risk (area under the curve = 0.63 and 0.64, respectively). We find that short-term AB affects the HRV responses of college students with HIGD during game-related stimuli, particularly for negative games. These findings highlight the potential benefits of adding AB training to psychotherapies to improve the psychophysiological regulation of college students with IGD. Further studies should investigate the effect of long-term AB on the psychophysiological responses of those with IGD during gameplay.