Spending just 20 minutes breathing deeply could help you feel calmer, researchers have found.
Taking deep breaths through the nose and out the mouth while listening to music may induce a blissful state by increasing blood flow to regions of the brain that process emotion, according to researchers.
The study published in the Journal PLOS One, looked at brain scans and self reported results following breathwork exercises and found these changes occur even while the body’s stress response is activated and are associated with reporting reduced negative emotions.
“Our key findings include that breathwork can reliably evoke profound psychedelic states. We believe that these states are linked to changes in the function of specific brain regions involved in self-awareness, and fear and emotional memory processing,” study authors write.
Breathwork as a therapeutic tool is increasing in popularity. Practices often increase the rate or depth of breath and accompanied by music, can lead to altered states of consciousness – similar to those evoked by psychedelic substances, researchers say.
Study authors add high ventilation breathwork might offer a non-pharmacological alternative to psychedelic substances. However, the mechanisms behind why it causes this feeling has not been studied extensively.
Amy Amla Kartar from the Colasanti Lab in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, analysed high ventilation breathwork using self-reported data from 15 individuals who participated online, eight individuals who participated in the lab, and 19 individuals who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Each group was given the task of a 20 to 30-minute session of cyclic breathing – inhaling through the nose until the lungs are full and exhaling through the mouth – without pausing while listening to music.
This was followed by a series of questionnaires within 30 minutes of finishing the breathwork session.
The results showed high ventilation breathwork slowed heart rate and caused large reductions in blood flow to the brain, but an increase of blood flow to the right amygdala and anterior hippocampus, which are brain regions involved in the processing of emotional memories.
These blood flow changes correlated with feelings comparable to psychedelic experiences.
“We found that more profound changes in blood flow in specific brain areas were linked to deeper sensations of unity, bliss, and emotional release,” study authors wrote.
During all experimental sessions, participants reported a reduction in fear and negative emotions, with no adverse reactions.
Lead author of the study Ms Kartar said: “It was thrilling to explore such a novel area – while many people anecdotally recognise the health benefits of breathwork, this style of fast-paced breathing has received very little scientific attention.”
Dr Alessandro Colasanti added: “Breathwork is a powerful yet natural tool for neuromodulation, working through the regulation of metabolism across the body and brain. It holds tremendous promise as a transformative therapeutic intervention for conditions that are often both distressing and disabling.”
Study authors say future research on larger sample sizes and a control group to separate the effects of music on the brain is needed.
Despite these limitations, researchers say the findings provide a better understanding of high ventilation breathwork.
