Effects Of Slow Breathing Research Articles

The effects of slow breathing on postural muscles during standing perturbations in young adults.

Maintaining standing balance is vital to completing activities in daily living. Recent findings suggest an interaction between cardiovascular and postural control systems. Volitional slow breathing can modulate the cardiovascular response and affect postural control during quiet standing. However, the effects of slow breathing during threats to standing balance have not been studied. The study examined the effect of slow breathing on the latency and amplitude of postural muscle responses to perturbations of the base of support in healthy, young adults. Twenty-seven participants completed two balance perturbation tasks in standing on an instrumented split-belt treadmill while breathing spontaneously and breathing at 6 breaths per minute. Each perturbation task consisted of 25 posteriorly directed translations of the treadmill belts every 8-12s. Muscle latency and muscle burst amplitude were measured using surface electromyography from the right limb for the quadriceps (QUADS), medial hamstring (MH), gastrocnemii (GASTROC), soleus (SOL), and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle groups, while a respiratory belt was used to record respiratory rate. Results indicated that during the slow breathing task both muscle latency (p = 0.022) and muscle burst amplitude (p = 0.011) decreased compared to spontaneous breathing. The EMG pre-perturbation activation was not significantly different in any muscle group between conditions (p > 0.167). The study found that reducing respiratory rate to approximately 6 breaths per minute affects the neuromuscular responses in the lower limb muscles to perturbations.

Glycemic Response is Improved by Breathing Exercises

The effects of slow breathing on glycemic control and insulin sensitivity was the subject of the first systematic study of the literature. While several studies have looked at the impact of yoga on people with diabetes, only a handful have focused on the isolation of slow breathing as the primary factor in their involvement. While it's impossible to differentiate yoga's exercise-related effects from its glycemic control effects, there's a lot of evidence that a breathing intervention will improve insulin sensitivity and glycemic control. This happens to be true of both stable and diabetic people, both acutely and chronically. Yoga pranayama and the deep breathing techniques that are central to yoga are a surprisingly low-cost and under-utilized intervention for people suffering from glycemic control and insulin sensitivity issues. To better understand the effect of respiratory regulation on glucose metabolism and insulin response, more research on pranayama and slow breathing manoeuvres is required

Effect of slow breathing on autonomic tone & baroreflex sensitivity in yoga practitioners.

Background & objectives:Slow breathing increases parasympathetic activity and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in healthy individuals, also similarly observed in yoga practitioners. Pranayama which is an important component of yoga when practiced at a slow pace was at a respiratory frequency of around 0.1 Hz (6 breaths/min). Therefore, it was hypothesized that yoga practitioners might have adapted to slow breathing. This study was aimed to decipher the role of yoga on cardiovascular variability during slow breathing (0.1 Hz) in yoga practitioners.Methods:A cross-sectional study was undertaken in naïve-to-yoga individuals (n=40) and yoga practitioners (n=40) with an average age of 31.08 ± 7.31 and 29.93 ± 7.57 yr, respectively. The analysis of heart rate variability, blood pressure variability (BPV) and BRS during spontaneous and slow breathing was compared between the two groups.Results:During slow breathing, the heart rate (P<0.01) was lower, respiratory rate interval (P<0.05) and pNN50 per cent (P=0.01) were higher, mean systolic BP (SBP) (P<0.05) and SDSD (Standard deviation of successive beat to beat systolic blood pressure differences) (P<0.01) of SBP variability were lower with sequence BRS (P<0.001) and α low frequency (P<0.01) and α high frequency (P<0.001) of spectral BRS were higher in yoga practitioners.Interpretation & conclusions:The present study indicated higher parasympathetic activity and BRS with lower SBP variability at rest and during slow breathing in yoga practitioners compared to naive group. Findings indicate that the short-term practice of slow breathing complements the augmented parasympathetic activity and BRS in the yoga group.

Is the effect of slow breathing on blood pressure a function of prehypertension and body weight?

Overweight and obesity are well‐known risk factors for hypertension, but some few subjects have a high prevalence of obesity but a relatively low prevalence of hypertension. The reduction of respiratory rate lowers blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive and prehypertensive subjects by a modulation of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity at both central and peripheral (baroreflex) levels. HRV is a noninvasive and useful tool for assessment of ANS function. The Valsalva ratio (VR) may be used as a surrogate marker of baroreflex activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of slow breathing on cardiovascular variables, HRV indices and VR in overweights with normal and increased BP.113 men recruited from V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University international student population were divided into four groups according to blood pressure and body weight into normotensives with normal weight and overweight and prehypertensives with normal weight and overweight (Table 1). The written informed consents were obtained. The ECG was continually recorded during 5 min resting and slow breathing (6 breaths/min) stages and HR, LF and HF power expressed in absolute units were obtained by CardioLab software (Ukraine). The measurements of systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP) were conducted at the end of each stage (Nissei WS‐1011, Japan). The VR was the ratio of max/min RR interval during the maneuver performed after resting and slow breathing stages. Three‐way repeated measures MANOVA with Bonferroni correction was used to test for possible effects of PHT, overweight, slow breathing, and their interaction on cardiovascular and HRV variables. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 22.In congruence with previous reports prehypertensive subjects with normal weight and overweight demonstrated reduction of SBP from 129.72±1.29 to 125.33±1.45 mm Hg (P=0.008) and from 131.43±1.03 to 128.54±1.16 mm Hg (P=0.029), respectively, as a result of slowing breathing rate. In both normotensive groups SBP did not change significantly. The VR increased in normotensives with normal weight from 1.89±0.05 to 2.00±0.06 (P=0.013), in prehypertensives with normal weight from 1.77±0.08 to 1.95±0.09 (P=0.005), and in prehypertensives with overweight from 1.73±0.06 to 1.85±0.07 (P=0.026), indicating improvement of baroreflex regulation during slow breathing, in congruence with previous reports. However, in normotensive overweights VR did not change significantly. The LnLF HRV power increased in all the groups. However, LnHF HRV power increased only in normotensive overweight subjects from 6.81±0.18 to 7.31±0.16 Lnms2 (P=0.008) indicating increased parasympathetic lability in this group.The effect of slow breathing is a function of prehypertension but not of body weight. Prehypertensives with normal weight and overweight demonstrated reduction of SBP as a result of slow breathing. Only normotensive overweight subjects demonstrated an increase of LnHF power in addition to LF HRV power indicating increased parasympathetic lability in this group, the advantage preventing from increased blood pressure despite presence of overweight. Why only in this group VR did not change due to slow breathing remains unclear and require study.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Effects of Slow Breathing on Blood Pressure and End Tidal Carbon Dioxide in Hypertension: Randomised Controlled Trial

Effects of Slow Breathing on Blood Pressure and End Tidal Carbon Dioxide in Hypertension: Randomised Controlled Trial

GW28-e0786 Effects of slow breathing rate on blood pressure and heart rate variabilities in essential hypertension

This study is to investigate the effect of slow breathing on heart rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV) in essential hypertension. Sixty essential hypertensive patients underwent controlled breathing at 8 and 16 breaths per minute. ECG, respiratory

Review: Can Yoga Breathing Exercises Improve Glycemic Response and Insulin Sensitivity?

This is the first review of the literature on the effects of slow breathing on glycemic regulation and insulin sensitivity. While many studies have investigated the effects of yoga on individuals with diabetes, few studies have specifically focusing on the isolation of slow breathing as the principle factor in their intervention. While it is difficult to separate the exercise-related effects of yoga, there is considerable evidence that a breathing intervention is capable of increasing insulin sensitivity and improving glycemic regulation. This appears to be true both acutely and chronically in healthy individuals and those with diabetes. Yoga pranayama and the slow breathing practices that are fundamental to yoga represent a relatively low-cost and under-utilized intervention for individuals with conditions related to altered glycemic regulation and insulin sensitivity. More studies should focus on pranayama and slow breathing maneuvers to better clarify the role of respiratory modulation on glucose metabolism and insulin response.

The effects of slow breathing on affective responses to pain stimuli: An experimental study

This study examined whether breathing rate affected self-reported pain and emotion following thermal pain stimuli in women with fibromyalgia syndrome (FM: n = 27) or age-matched healthy control women (HC: n = 25). FM and HC were exposed to low and moderate thermal pain pulses during paced breathing at their normal rate and one-half their normal rate. Thermal pain pulses were presented in four blocks of four trials. Each block included exposure to both mild and moderate pain trials, and periods of both normal and slow paced breathing. Pain intensity and unpleasantness were recorded immediately following each pain trial, and positive and negative affect were assessed at the end of each block of trials. Compared to normal breathing, slow breathing reduced ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness, particularly for moderately versus mildly painful thermal stimuli. The effects of slow breathing on pain ratings were less reliable for FM patients than for HCs. Slow versus normal breathing decreased negative affect ratings following thermal pain pulses for both groups, and increased positive affect reports, but only for healthy controls with high trait negative affect. Participants who reported higher levels of trait positive affect prior to the experiment showed greater decreases in negative affect as a result of slow versus normal breathing. These experimental findings provide support for prior reports on the benefits of yogic breathing and mindful Zen meditation for pain and depressed affect. However, chronic pain patients may require more guidance to obtain therapeutic benefit from reduced breathing rates.