Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal

Controlled breathwork practices have emerged as potential tools for stress management and well-being. Here, we report a remote, randomized, controlled study (NCT05304000) of three different daily 5-min breathwork exercises compared with an equivalent period of mindfulness meditation over 1 month. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cell reports. Medicine 2023-01, Vol.4 (1), p.100895-100895, Article 100895
Main Authors: Balban, Melis Yilmaz, Neri, Eric, Kogon, Manuela M., Weed, Lara, Nouriani, Bita, Jo, Booil, Holl, Gary, Zeitzer, Jamie M., Spiegel, David, Huberman, Andrew D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
anxiety
Anxiety - therapy
Arousal
autonomic
breathwork
heart rate variability
Humans
limbic
Meditation
mindfulness meditation
mood
physiology
Respiration
sleep
stress
wearable
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Summary:Controlled breathwork practices have emerged as potential tools for stress management and well-being. Here, we report a remote, randomized, controlled study (NCT05304000) of three different daily 5-min breathwork exercises compared with an equivalent period of mindfulness meditation over 1 month. The breathing conditions are (1) cyclic sighing, which emphasizes prolonged exhalations; (2) box breathing, which is equal duration of inhalations, breath retentions, and exhalations; and (3) cyclic hyperventilation with retention, with longer inhalations and shorter exhalations. The primary endpoints are improvement in mood and anxiety as well as reduced physiological arousal (respiratory rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability). Using a mixed-effects model, we show that breathwork, especially the exhale-focused cyclic sighing, produces greater improvement in mood (p 
ISSN:2666-3791
2666-3791
DOI:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895