The effects of breathing at a frequency of 0.1 Hz on affective state, the cardiovascular system, and adequacy of ventilation

Szulczewski, Mikołaj Tytus; Rynkiewicz, Andrzej

doi:10.1111/psyp.13221

Cited by 19 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Thus, the present study suggests that training increases the relaxing effects of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz and makes it more pleasurable. Therefore, the lack of effects of paced breathing on affect reported by some previous studies could be caused by the participants’ lack of experience with paced breathing [44, 45, 46, 27, 28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, paced breathing prevents the use of compensatory mechanisms such as apnea. As a result, some untrained participants tend to hyperventilate during slow paced breathing [26, 27, 28]. Hyperventilation leads to a decrease in arterial pressure of CO 2 , and when this decrease is large enough it causes several undesirable physiological and psychological changes, such as increase in heart rate, paresthesia and tetany, dizziness, lightheadedness, and increased emotional arousal [29, 30, 31, 32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, the effects of slow paced breathing on affective state may improve with training. Previous studies that investigated the influence of paced breathing at frequencies around 0.1 Hz on affect among untrained participants provided mixed results: some reported relaxing and anti-anxiety effects [39, 40, 41, 42, 43] and others did not [44, 45, 46, 27, 28]. At the same time, a lot of studies suggest that regular practice of paced breathing at frequencies around 0.1 Hz improves emotional functioning, for example by reducing anxiety (for meta-analysis see: [6]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Training of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz improves CO2 homeostasis and relaxation during a paced breathing task

Szulczewski¹

2019

PLoS ONE

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Volitional control of breathing often leads to excessive ventilation (hyperventilation) among untrained individuals, which disrupts CO 2 homeostasis and may elicit a set of undesirable symptoms. The present study investigated whether seven days of training without any anti-hyperventilation instructions improves CO 2 homeostasis during paced breathing at a frequency of 0.1 Hz (6 breaths/minute). Furthermore, the present study investigated the effects of training on breathing-related changes in affective state to examine the hypothesis that training improves the influence of slow paced breathing on affect. A total of 16 participants performed ten minutes of paced breathing every day for seven days. Partial pressure of end-tidal CO 2 (PetCO 2 ), symptoms of hyperventilation, affective state (before and after breathing), and pleasantness of the task were measured on the first, fourth, and seventh days of training. Results showed that the drop in PetCO 2 significantly decreased with training and none of the participants experienced a drop in PetCO 2 below 30 mmHg by day seven of training (except one participant who already had PetCO 2 below 30 mmHg during baseline), in comparison to 37.5% of participants on the first day. Paced breathing produced hyperventilation symptoms of mild intensity which did not decrease with training. This suggests that some participants still experienced a drop of PetCO 2 that was deep enough to produce noticeable symptoms. Affective state was shifted towards calmness and relaxation during the second and third laboratory measurements, but not during the first measurement. Additionally, the breathing task was perceived as more pleasant during subsequent laboratory measurements. The obtained results showed that training paced breathing at 0.1 Hz led to decrease in hyperventilation. Furthermore, the present study suggests that training paced breathing is necessary to make the task more pleasant and relaxing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Training of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz improves CO2 homeostasis and relaxation during a paced breathing task

Szulczewski¹

2019

PLoS ONE

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“…In our study, one participant experienced dizziness during the resting period prior to the main test; therefore, this is not likely to be due to the intervention. One concern during controlled/deep breathing exercises is hyperventilation (Szulczewski & Rynkiewicz, ). In our study, the load of 5 cmH 2 O, but not 10 cmH 2 O, was associated with lower EtCO 2 compared to the no load condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of inspiratory threshold load on cardiovascular responses to controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz

et al. 2019

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Slow, deep breathing is being used as a self‐management intervention for various health conditions including pain and hypertension. Stimulation of the arterial baroreceptors and increased vagal modulation are among the proposed mechanisms for the therapeutic effects of slow, deep breathing. We investigated whether adding inspiratory threshold load can enhance the cardiovascular responses to controlled breathing at the frequency of 0.1 Hz, a common form of slow, deep breathing. Healthy volunteers (N = 29) performed controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz (6 breaths/minute) without load and with inspiratory threshold loads of 5 cmH2O and 10 cmH2O. Respiratory airflow, heart rate, and blood pressure were continuously recorded. The amplitude of the systolic blood pressure variation during respiratory cycles increased with increasing loads. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was higher during controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz with the load of 10 cmH2O compared to without load. Baroreflex sensitivity was not affected by loads. The effect of loads on respiratory sinus arrhythmia was mediated by increasing the amplitude of systolic blood pressure variation during respiratory cycles. These results suggest that applying small inspiratory threshold loads during controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz increases cardiac vagal modulation by this breathing exercise. This effect seems to be mediated by stronger stimulation of the arterial baroreceptors because of larger systolic blood pressure swings along the respiratory cycle. The potential benefit of long‐term practice of controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz with inspiratory threshold loads on baroreflex function and cardiac vagal control needs to be investigated, particularly in pain and hypertension patients.

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“…The most widely studied and used paced breathing is at frequencies around 0.1 Hz (six breaths per minute) because this frequency maximizes the amplitude of cardiovascular-oscillations (Pitzalis et al 1998; Song and Lehrer 2003). Breathing at 0.1 Hz has been used as an emotion regulation tool (Laborde et al 2016; Zautra et al 2010), as an experimental procedure in basic research on breathing (Chalaye et al 2009; Szulczewski and Rynkiewicz 2018), as a method of measurement of vagal tone (Grossman et al 1990; Shields 2009), and as a behavioral treatment for hypertension (Zou et al 2017). Breathing at frequencies around 0.1 Hz is also used in biofeedback-based methods aimed at increasing heart rate variability (Lehrer et al 2000), which has shown promising effects in the treatment of, for example, anxiety (Goessl et al 2017), depression (Hassett et al 2007; Siepmann et al 2008), and fibromyalgia (Hassett 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

An Anti-hyperventilation Instruction Decreases the Drop in End-tidal CO2 and Symptoms of Hyperventilation During Breathing at 0.1 Hz

Szulczewski

2019

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback

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Breathing at a frequency of around 0.1 Hz is widely used in basic research and in applied psychophysiology because it strongly increases fluctuations in the cardiovascular system and affects psychological functioning. Volitional control of breathing often leads to hyperventilation among untrained individuals, which may produce aversive symptoms and alter the psychological and physiological effects of the paced breathing. The present study investigated the effectiveness of a brief anti-hyperventilation instruction during paced breathing at a frequency of 0.1 Hz. Forty-six participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a group given an anti-hyperventilation instruction and a control group without such an instruction. The instruction asked participants to avoid excessively deep breathing and to breathe shallowly and naturally. Participants performed the breathing task for 10 min. Hyperventilation was measured by partial pressure of end-tidal CO 2 (PetCO 2 ); furthermore, symptoms of hyperventilation, feeling of air hunger, task difficulty, and affective state were measured by self-report. The results showed that paced breathing without instruction decreased PetCO 2 by 5.21 mmHg and that the use of the anti-hyperventilation instruction reduced the drop in PetCO 2 to 2.7 mmHg. Symptoms of hyperventilation were lower in the group with the anti-hyperventilation instruction. Neither the feeling of air hunger nor task difficulty were affected by the instruction. There were no significant effects of the instruction on affective state. The present study indicates that a brief anti-hyperventilation instruction may be used to decrease drop in PetCO 2 and symptoms of hyperventilation during breathing at 0.1 Hz and that the instruction is well tolerated.

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The effects of breathing at a frequency of 0.1 Hz on affective state, the cardiovascular system, and adequacy of ventilation

Cited by 19 publications

References 102 publications

Training of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz improves CO2 homeostasis and relaxation during a paced breathing task

Training of paced breathing at 0.1 Hz improves CO2 homeostasis and relaxation during a paced breathing task

Influence of inspiratory threshold load on cardiovascular responses to controlled breathing at 0.1 Hz

An Anti-hyperventilation Instruction Decreases the Drop in End-tidal CO2 and Symptoms of Hyperventilation During Breathing at 0.1 Hz

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