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Life Guide U.S. essentials
English

To settle down on the spot, use 5 minutes of "cyclic sighing": two breaths in, then a long breath out

  • High value
  • Evidence B
  • Buys life
  • Free
  • Takes minutes
  • No willpower

In plain words

Doing a breathing exercise for 5 minutes a day for a month improved mood and slowed breathing more than 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation did. Among the breathing methods, "cyclic sighing," which lengthens the breath out, did best. The method is to breathe in through the nose, take one more short breath in to fill the lungs, and then slowly let it all out through the mouth. This is only one trial, and how well it works was reported by the participants themselves, but it costs nothing.

Cost

Free. 5 minutes a day.

What you get

This was a controlled trial done at home with random assignment to groups, comparing three breathing exercises of 5 minutes a day with the same length of mindfulness meditation, for 1 month. The three breathing methods were: cyclic sighing (stressing a long breath out), box breathing (breathing in, holding and breathing out for equal lengths), and cyclic hyperventilation with breath retention (long in, short out). With each person's data from each session pooled (mixed-effects model), all the breathing exercises were better than mindfulness meditation, especially cyclic sighing, which emphasizes the breath out. It did better both on mood improvement (P<0.05, meaning this difference does not look like chance) and on lowering breathing rate (P<0.05).

Notes

The method is to breathe in through the nose, briefly take one more small breath in to fill the lungs, then slowly and fully let the air out through the mouth, and repeat for 5 minutes. There is only this one trial, it was done at home, whether it works was reported by the participants on a questionnaire, and the number of people was not large. The effect is only slightly better than meditation, and it cannot solve the problem. But it costs nothing, takes just 5 minutes and can be done anywhere, so it is good value.

Evidence grade
B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.
Sources
  1. Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), 100895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895

Mentioned in

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 22, tip 8. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer