Credits: Social Media
I tried famous neuroscientist’s breathing technique for relaxation, here’s the catch
The internet is full of hints and tips on how to relax and manage stress but one breathing technique, known as cyclic sighing, is backed by neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman, so I decided to try it out.
An associate professor of neurobiology at Stanford Universitys School of Medicine, Andrew Huberman has discussed the technique on his Huberman Lab podcast which has become one of the most popular podcasts in the world since it began in 2021, ranking as the third most popular podcast on Spotify and the most followed show on Apple Podcasts in 2023.
What is cyclic sighing?
Cyclic sighing (also known as physiological sighing) is a breathing technique that Andrew Huberman has touched upon in great detail on both his podcast and in a study he was involved with in collaboration with Standford University and David Spiegel, MD, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine.
In order to do cyclic sighing, begin by gently inhaling through your nose. Next, take a second, deeper breath to fully fill your lungs. Then, slowly exhale through your mouth to release the air. The study states that daily five-minute breathwork can help to improve mood and reduce anxiety.
For the study, researchers quizzed participants before and after the breathing exercises and asked them to assess their good and bad feelings on a scale of one to five.
All groups involved in the study reported lower anxiety and a better mood by employing controlled breathing each day. Those who were asked to use cyclic sighing experienced the biggest improvement in energy, joy and peacefulness, and the positive impact of the technique increased the longer the study went on.
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I tried it
After coming across a video of Andrew Huberman describing the benefits of cyclic sighing, I decided to give it a go.
Im typically skeptical of online health hacks and after my first few goes of trying the cyclic sigh technique, that skepticism remained as it didnt seem to do much.
Admittedly, the first time I tried the cyclic sigh, it was fairly early on in the day and at the time, I was already reasonably relaxed.
However, as the day went on and work stresses grew, I continued to try out cyclic sighing and started to feel a benefit from the technique.
I found that by using the cyclic sigh, I started to focus on my breathing more, which took my mind away from whatever stressors I was facing. The slow exhale that the breathing technique uses is always a relaxing process and that allowed me to slow down and take a moment.
On top of that, as Huberman has discussed, the double inhale of cyclic sighing helps to get more air into your lungs than you might normally. This helps to get more oxygen into the body which in turn seemingly helped to boost my energy – although I had drunk some coffee by this point which may have contributed to that.
But after being initially skeptical of this technique, Im inclined to stick with it and to see if there really are long-term benefits as Hubermans study found.
However, if youre trying it for yourself, perhaps dont go expecting too much from this method if youre already fairly relaxed while doing it.
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