Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
In a randomized trial of 20 healthy adults, researchers recorded EKGs during a 3-minute baseline, a 15-minute massage, and a 3-minute postmassage period. Moderate pressure massage raised the high-frequency (HF) heart-rate variability measure and lowered the LF/HF ratio, which the authors say indicates increased parasympathetic (vagal) activity peaking in the…
This study tested how slow versus fast breathing affects anxiety and brain activity. Twenty-seven people did breathing and threat-uncertainty tasks while their brain activity was measured with EEG. Slow breathing reduced anxiety and led to different EEG patterns than fast breathing. In particular, slow breathing raised EEG power across several…
