Psychophysiological Effects of Breathing Instructions for Stress Management

Abstract

Stressed and tense individuals often are recommended to change the way they breathe. However, psychophysiological effects of breathing instructions on respiration are rarely measured. We tested the immediate effects of short and simple breathing instructions in 13 people seeking treatment for panic disorder, 15 people complaining of daily tension, and 15 controls. Participants underwent a 3-hour laboratory session during which instructions to direct attention to breathing and anti-hyperventilation instructions to breathe more slowly, shallowly, or both were given. Respiratory, cardiac, and electrodermal measures were recorded. The anti-hyperventilation instructions failed to raise end-tidal pCO(2) above initial baseline levels for any of the groups because changes in respiratory rate were compensated for by changes in tidal volume and vice versa. Paying attention to breathing significantly reduced respiratory rate and decreased tidal volume instability compared to the other instructions. Shallow breathing made all groups more anxious than did other instructions. Heart rate and skin conductance were not differentially affected by instructions. We conclude that simple and short instructions to alter breathing do not change respiratory or autonomic measures in the direction of relaxation, except for attention to breathing, which increases respiratory stability. To understand the results of breathing instructions for stress and anxiety management, respiration needs to be monitored physiologically.

Considerations in the assessment of heart rate variability in biobehavioral research

“…Specifically, HRV increases when short inspiration is followed by long expiration – which has implications for tasks that require speech production (Cysarz et al, 2004) and many forms of meditation, for instance. Even monitoring spontaneous breathing has been found to reduce respiratory variability (Cysarz and Büssing, 2005; Conrad et al, 2007). HR driven cardiorespiratory coupling also appears to increase when HRV is higher (Galletly and Larsen, 2001).…”

Evaluating mobile apps for breathing training: The effectiveness of visualization

“…These benefits can be explained by the fact that deep and slow breathing exercises contrast the effects of fast and shallow chest breathing, which is a common automatic habit, e.g., in patients with anxiety disorders (Hazlett-Stevens, 2008). In general, hyperventilation can lead to physical sensations resembling anxiety (HazlettStevens, 2008) and symptoms typical of panic attacks (Conrad et al, 2007). Furthermore, several medical studies have reported that breathing exercises can also have positive effects on the circulatory system, by helping to lower blood pressure (Grossman et al, 2001;Joseph et al, 2005;Radaelli et al, 2004).…”

Low latency breathing frequency detection and monitoring on a personal computer

“…Conscious control of breathing, such as during breathing exercise, provides a mechanism for conscious control of autonomous nervous system and-to some degree-a conscious control of involuntary body processes. Today, breathing exercises are being used as a complementary treatment of hypertension [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], asthma [26][27][28][29][30], sleep disorders [31,32], and stress/anxiety-related disorders [33][34][35][36][37][38]. Technical solutions that allow detection of breathing frequency do already exist [31,[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46], but they are not easily integrated with a computer to enable interactive pacedbreathing exercises.…”