{"id":72173,"date":"2023-02-08T09:43:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T15:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=72173"},"modified":"2024-04-06T06:12:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T06:12:03","slug":"cathartic-over-the-top-sighs-can-actually-reduce-stress-levels-according-to-new-science","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/cathartic-over-the-top-sighs-can-actually-reduce-stress-levels-according-to-new-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Cathartic, Over-the-Top Sighs Can Actually Reduce Stress Levels, According to New Science"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n
Photo by Darina Belonogova<\/a><\/div>\n
There\u2019s a certain satisfying drama to letting out a big sigh<\/a>, especially if it\u2019s got some volume to it.\u00a0While science has found that\u00a0we often sigh spontaneously for physiological reasons<\/a>\u00a0(as the body\u2019s natural way of reopening collapsed alveoli in the lungs), we also\u00a0sigh when we\u2019re experiencing a negative emotion<\/a>\u00a0like frustration or boredom, hence the dramatic vibe. Taking such a big exhale has previously been linked with momentary\u00a0psychological release<\/a>\u00a0from that negative feeling. But according to a\u00a0new study<\/a>, sighing purposefully several times in a row for a few minutes each day, aka cyclic sighing, can transform that short-term benefit into a form of long-lasting stress relief.<\/div>\n

These findings come from researchers at Stanford University, who aimed to quantify the effects of\u00a0different types of breathwork<\/a>\u00a0on mood and emotional state. For the study, they divided 100-plus participants into four groups, assigning each a different five-minute intervention to do daily for a month with video-based instructions: cyclic sighing (which emphasizes the exhale), cyclic hyperventilation (which emphasizes the inhale),\u00a0box breathing<\/a>\u00a0(which involves equal-length inhales and exhales), or mindfulness meditation (which involves passive observation of breathing, with no active control).<\/p>\n

While all the groups experienced daily improvement in positive affect and reduction in anxiety and negative affect, the cyclic sighing group demonstrated the\u00a0biggest<\/em>\u00a0improvement in mood and drop in respiratory rate (which is linked with a calmer state of being).<\/p>\n

According to one of the study\u2019s authors, psychiatrist\u00a0David Spiegel, MD<\/a>, director of the Center on Stress and Health at Stanford School of Medicine, this was just what they anticipated. \u201cWe thought that a type of breathing that emphasizes exhalation [like cyclic sighing] would be more likely to be self-soothing by triggering the parasympathetic nervous system,\u201d he says. That\u2019s because exhalation is the phase of the breathing cycle linked with a\u00a0slower heart rate<\/a>: \u201cWhen you inhale, you reduce blood return to the heart, which causes it to speed up in response; whereas, when you exhale, you increase blood return to the heart, the\u00a0vagus nerve is stimulated<\/a>, and the parasympathetic activity slows the heart rate down,\u201d says Dr. Spiegel.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen you exhale, you increase blood return to the heart, the vagus nerve is stimulated, and the parasympathetic activity slows the heart rate down.\u201d \u2014David Spiegel, MD, psychiatrist<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Because cyclic sighing is essentially a form of breathing that doubles down on exhalation, it\u2019s a hack for shifting into that calmer parasympathetic state, and with repetition over time, for achieving stress relief as a result. To get specific, the cyclic sighing that participants practiced involved inhaling briefly through the nose to partially fill the lungs, then completing that inhalation, and finally, exhaling through the mouth for\u00a0twice<\/em>\u00a0as long as the inhale.<\/p>\n

That last bit is the most important part for achieving the soothing effect: \u201cMaking the exhalation double the length of the inhalation is extremely powerful for finding a sense of peace and calm in one\u2019s mind and body,\u201d says\u00a0Zee Clarke<\/a>, a mindfulness and breathwork expert for people of color (who wasn\u2019t involved in the study) and author of the forthcoming book\u00a0Black People Breathe<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Though the above science may be new, \u201cthis style of breathing reflects a basic principle of traditional pranayama,\u201d says Clarke, referring to the yogic breathing that\u2019s\u00a0previously been shown to reduce perceived stress<\/a>, as well as the heart-related parameters of it.<\/p>\n

Why the breathwork practice of repeated sighing can be so powerful for stress relief<\/h2>\n

Though the researchers didn\u2019t specifically study the reason why cyclic sighing for just five minutes a day is so effective for stress relief and mood regulation, Dr. Spiegel suspects it\u2019s related to how this kind of breathwork uniquely ties together processes of the mind and the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat’s very interesting about breathing is that it’s right at the crux of automatic versus mentally directed physiological control,\u201d says Dr. Spiegel. \u201cIf you don\u2019t think about breathing, you breathe, but you can also change it, and the fact that you can take control and experience yourself taking control over a normally automatic physiological process may extend your sense of control over both mind and body.\u201d In other words, with cyclic sighing, you can actually\u00a0feel<\/em>\u00a0yourself calming yourself down, as your long exhales begin to activate your parasympathetic nervous system.<\/p>\n

This feeling of control over one\u2019s mental state of being may also help explain why the cyclic sighers in the study actually benefited more from the exercise the more days they did it, experiencing cumulative improvements in mood in a way that none of the other groups did. \u201cThere\u2019s this feedback loop, where you become better able to regulate your mood and how your body feels, which is then encouraging, reminding you again that it doesn\u2019t have to take much effort to feel calm,\u201d says Dr. Spiegel.<\/p>\n

Over time, the more you practice breathwork, the better you\u2019ll be at utilizing it when you need it the most, too, says Clarke. \u201cIt\u2019s important to do breathing practices to proactively stimulate the parasympathetic, so that you have a strong foundation when challenging things happen.\u201d That’s why she suggests adding five minutes of exhale-focused breathing like cyclic sighing to your morning routine (ideally as the very first thing you do, so you don\u2019t forget it), or scheduling it in your calendar to ensure it remains a daily ritual. Whenever the calendar reminder pops up, resist the urge to delay, she says; instead, adopt the mantra, \u201cToday, I choose me\u201d and begin.<\/p>\n

By <\/a><\/span>Erica Sloan<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Original post-WELL+GOOD<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Darina Belonogova<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Darina Belonogova There\u2019s a certain satisfying drama to letting out a big sigh, especially if it\u2019s got some volume to it.\u00a0While science has found that\u00a0we often sigh spontaneously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":72175,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[139],"tags":[136,137,138,284,141,180,143,145,155,203,120,147,175,165],"class_list":["post-72173","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-blog","tag-ais","tag-american-institute-of-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-awareness","tag-health","tag-meditation","tag-mental-health","tag-relaxation","tag-research","tag-self-care","tag-stress","tag-stress-management","tag-stress-reduction","tag-stress-relief","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCathartic, Over-the-Top Sighs Can Actually Reduce Stress Levels, According to New Science - 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