The Best Way to Breathe for Reducing Stress?
via Bulletproof Musician · from SigInt #001,
A 2022 study by Balban et al. compared mindfulness meditation, cyclic sighing, box breathing, and cyclic hyperventilation over 28 days. All four reduced anxiety and negative mood similarly, but cyclic sighing produced the biggest boost in positive mood, linked to slower breathing rates.
When pressure spikes, the fastest lever you have is the exhale. Balban and colleagues put 108 people through 28 days of four practices — mindfulness meditation, cyclic sighing, box breathing and cyclic hyperventilation. All four lowered anxiety, but cyclic sighing came out ahead on positive mood, and the people whose everyday breathing slowed the most improved the most. It takes about a minute and needs nothing but your own lungs, which is why it survives contact with a warm-up room or a start line.
Try this week
Run five cyclic sighs before you begin: a normal inhale through the nose, a second short sip of air on top, then a long slow exhale through the mouth. Notice where your shoulders end up.