Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

cryzinger•15 minutes ago

Parasympathetic nervous activation increased risk-taking behavior? That's interesting/unexpected (at least to me). Also, this part caught my eye:

> The selective impact of prolonged exhalation breathing on reward responsiveness has important implications for clinical contexts, such as anxiety, panic disorder, and depression, given their distinct autonomic signatures and maladaptive reward processing. By enhancing cardiac parasympathetic modulation through prolonged exhalation techniques, individuals may restore reward processing, a valuable pathway for emotional recalibration. Prolonged exhalation harbors the potential for a low-cost, low-risk, easily applicable intervention to be incorporated into therapy or rehabilitation programs, especially to support pharmacological treatments.

chopete3•about 1 hour ago

"When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a breath and count to four." - Daniel Tiger's mom

ansk•about 1 hour ago

I've found breathing exercises to be effective for the duration of the exercise, but I'm more interested in the possibility of training myself to adjust my respiration patterns over sustained durations. Would it be beneficial -- or even possible at all -- to adjust my body's default/subconscious breathing patterns to match those mentioned in the article?

Tangentially related, are there any wearable devices that allow for high resolution respiration monitoring? I'm imagining some measurement of lung expansion over time (probably at least 10 Hz) so that I can quantify the deepness/shallowness of my breaths as well as the phase of inhalation/exhalation cycles.

RossBencina•10 minutes ago

I have read that skilled mindfulness practitioners maintain constant awareness of their breathing pattern throughout all other waking activities. Something to aspire to perhaps.

Nevermark•6 minutes ago

> Would it be beneficial -- or even possible at all -- to adjust my body's default/subconscious breathing patterns to match those mentioned in the article?

It is generally true, that most physical reflexes, autonomous responses, and subconscious regulation, are there as aids to us. The fact that they are not universally beneficial is one of the purposes of having higher level control. Not to universally suppress responses, but to notice and cope when they misfire.

It would be interesting to have a map of breathing patterns across a wide variety of situations, to identify when prolonged exhalation is adaptive.

My guess, based on the common reflexes of mouth clamping and breath holding before great physical exertion, is that prolonged exhalation is an adaptive psychological orchestrator, for when we have to take on something difficult, risky (but necessary), or that needs a fast strong response.

Our fast acting emotions, and slower acting moods, operate, at least in part, that way. Patterns of stimulus and response from our baseline physiology and psychological, that we absorb into our higher level operation, as generalized guides for analogous responses to contexts at higher abstraction levels.

Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

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