DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH –
Jan. 17, 2024 – “Accordingly, we found no measurable effect of coherent breathing over and above a well-designed breathwork placebo at improving mental health and wellbeing. This is not to say coherent breathing in general does not help people … “We wanted to compare daily coherent breathing to a placebo for ~1 month to see if there were any differences on subjective mental health and wellbeing outcomes. We also wanted to create a placebo with equal credibility and expectancy of benefit, and blind participants to their allocated intervention (masking/concealment) both of which were paced with equal inhalation:exhalation ratios.”
The study, conducted online through the research platform Prolific, involved 400 participants. To ensure a diverse sample, the study included individuals from various backgrounds, with the majority being female and of White ethnicity. Participants were required to be 18 or older, able to breathe through their nose, and have access to headphones. Exclusion criteria were set to omit those with conditions that might affect breathing, such as respiratory or cardiovascular issues.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group practiced coherent breathing at approximately 5.5 breaths per minute for about 10 minutes daily over four weeks. This intervention was delivered through pre-recorded guidance by a trained facilitator.
