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 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled data from 223 studies to see if voluntary slow breathing (VSB) changes heart rate variability that reflects parasympathetic (vagal) control of the heart. The authors found that VSB increased vagally-mediated heart rate variability during breathing sessions, right after a single session, and after…
This 2020 review looked at English studies on yogic breathing (pranayamas) published from 2008 to 2018. The authors screened 1,588 articles and analyzed 14 that met their criteria. Those 14 papers generally reported effects of pranayama on emotional states and on thinking or cognitive performance. The review also said the…
This small cross-sectional study compared 33 regular yoga practitioners with 35 non‑practitioners aged 17–30. The yoga group had a lower resting heart rate (about 69 vs 81 bpm) and a smaller blood‑pressure response on the sustained handgrip test (about 10.2 vs 16.3), differences the authors report as statistically significant. Other…
