Longer exhales did not show a clear stress advantage during slow breathing
Healthy adults reported less anxiety after regular slow breathing, but extending the exhale did not significantly outperform equal inhale and exhale timing.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In healthy adults practising slow breathing, extending the exhale did not show a statistically significant advantage over equal inhale and exhale timing. Anxiety scores improved from baseline, while heart rate variability did not show a significant improvement. Because the comparison involved breathing patterns, it does not isolate slow breathing's benefit over no practice.
This abstract-based summary compares active breathing approaches. The nonsignificant group difference does not establish equivalence, and the abstract does not report longer-term outcomes.
What researchers found
PROMIS Anxiety and heart rate variability
Longer exhale versus equal inhale/exhale timing, comparing baseline with 12 weeks.
Were the patterns followed?
Participants practised at home and attended instruction sessions. Remote measurements from wearable garments indicated that they followed their assigned breathing ratios, while attendance, practice frequency and achieved breathing rates did not differ significantly between groups.
Different stress measures
The study separated self-reported anxiety from physiological stress, assessed through heart rate variability. The improvement in anxiety from baseline was not accompanied by a statistically significant change in that physiological measure.
The original publication
Slow breathing for reducing stress: The effect of extending exhale.
Birdee G, Nelson K, Wallston K et al.
Complement Ther Med · 2023
- PubMed ID
- 36871835
- Record checked
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