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If you've ever let out a big sigh during a frustrating or annoying situation, there's now a scientific explanation for why that sigh makes us feel a little better.
A new study conducted at Stanford University shows that just five minutes a day of breathing this way can be effective stress relievers, and may work even better than meditation.
In a study published earlier this year in the journal Cell Reports Medicine, researchers divided 114 subjects into four groups, each of which practiced a different physical activity for 28 days, five minutes a day.
Mindful meditation was one of those exercises, as well as three specific breathing practices: "box breathing," cyclical hyperventilation, or cyclical sighing.
In the first type you have to "breathe in, hold, breathe out and pause equally for a count of four" (like the sides of a box).
In cyclic hyperventilation, a person breathes in slowly, then exhales rapidly, over and over again.
In a cyclical sigh, breathing in through the nose "until the lungs are half full, then stopping for a short time," according to CNN, the subject continues to breathe a little longer, then exhales slowly.
"In mindfulness meditation, we guide people to be aware of their breathing but not to try to control it," says study author Dr. David Spiegel in an edition of the journal Stanford Medicine.
"For the other groups, we asked the participants to directly control an activity that normally occurs more or less automatically."
After each breathing or meditation session, scientists looked at the subjects' mood, anxiety levels and sleep behaviors, as well as breathing and heart rate measurements.
They found that sleep was not affected by any of the methods, but all the different breaths increased mood and decreased anxiety.
But one form of breathing was more effective than the others, and even beat meditation: the slow exhalation of a cyclical sigh.
Helps reduce stress.
GIF of a woman panting (Photo: Giphy)
"Cyclical sighing is a pretty quick way to calm yourself down," says Spiegel, according to CNN.
"Many people can do this about three times in a row and see immediate relief from feelings of anxiety and stress."
Dr. Cynthia Akril, an expert in stress management, points out that the study is a small one, and that we should not underestimate meditation or the other types of breathing that can still help. "We know that paying attention to any form of breathwork begins the process of awareness that feeds the mind and its benefits." , she says. "As long as we all experiment with mind-body connections with an open mind and find something that relaxes us, great."
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