What you've heard
The physiological sigh, two inhales through the nose and a long exhale through the mouth, is the fastest proven way to calm down
Verdict
A reasonable quick reset with thin evidence; "fastest" and "proven" are overstated
Is the physiological sigh the fastest way to calm down?
A reasonable quick reset with thin evidence; "fastest" and "proven" are overstated.
The claim rests on one trial. It randomly assigned about a hundred people, mostly undergraduates, to five minutes a day of mindfulness meditation or one of three breathing drills for four weeks. Every group felt better. Cyclic sighing lifted positive mood and slowed resting breathing more than meditation did, but anxiety fell equally in all groups, and nobody's heart-rate variability changed. The authors describe it as exploratory and registered it retrospectively, and its instructional videos were recorded by one of them.24
Where the book tests it
What the book recommends instead
Practice slow breathing or mindfulness for five to ten minutes a day, or take an eight-week course
ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.How: breathe about six times a minute, roughly four seconds in and six out, sitting down, on most days; use a count, an app or a prayer to keep the pace. For anxiety that persists, consider an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course. Why: small-to-moderate reductions in stress and anxiety in trials, and one course proved no worse than a standard drug for anxiety disorders.
Talk to a clinician if low mood or anxiety lasts more than two weeks or gets in the way of work, sleep or people
StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.How: a family doctor is a fine first stop. Before the appointment, write down what you have noticed, for how long, and what it is costing you in sleep, work and time with people, because a low day in the waiting room can make a hard month sound like nothing. Ask about the options, including talking therapy; if cost or a waiting list is the barrier, say so and ask about lower-cost and online options. Why: every antidepressant tested beat placebo; the wrong chemical story never meant the treatment was wrong. If you already take a psychiatric medicine, keep taking it; any change belongs in a conversation with the person who prescribed it.
Sources
- 24.Balban, M.Y., Neri, E., Kogon, M.M., Weed, L., 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 (108 participants, mostly undergraduates; run June to September 2020 and registered retrospectively in March 2022, NCT05304000; instructional videos pre-recorded by one of the authors.)
Note numbers are those of Chapter 13, Stress and the Mind.
This verdict is one of the "What you've heard" boxes in Chapter 13, Stress and the Mind, where the book tests the claims people repeat against the studies behind them.
Educational content, not medical advice. Disclaimer.