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.
This clinical trial tested one session of deep and slow breathing (DSB) in 47 adults (22 older, 25 younger). After the single DSB session, high-frequency (HF) heart rate variability increased and self-reported state anxiety went down in both age groups. The rise in HF power was significantly larger in older…
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…
