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Practise cyclic sighing

Practise a short seated breathing session with two successive inhales followed by a slow, longer exhale.

At a glance

  • Evidence: Daily cyclic sighing improved mood in one small trial.Mood and physiological arousal · Limited certainty · Randomized intervention
  • What’s uncertain: One month of practice does not establish treatment of an anxiety disorder.
  • First step: Sit comfortably and try two gentle inhales followed by a slow exhale.
  • Before you try it: Stop and breathe normally if you feel dizzy or uncomfortable. All precautions

Takeaway

A one-month randomized trial found better mood and a lower respiratory rate with daily exhale-focused cyclic sighing than with mindfulness meditation. A broader breathwork review also found lower reported stress, but combines different techniques and does not provide a cyclic-sighing-specific estimate. This is preliminary evidence for a brief wellbeing practice, not proof that one sigh treats an anxiety disorder or that it improves sleep.

A quiet garden with places to sit, illustrating a setting for a brief breathing practice.Discussed byAndrew HubermanView statements ↓
FocusStress & wellbeingUnder 10 min · Easy · Free
Reviewed Oct 3, 2026
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Scientific evidence

What the research shows

Outcome assessments based on research, including its uncertainties and limitations.

Mood and physiological arousal

Finding: Benefit supportedCertainty: Limitedstudies found a benefit from doing this

Evidence basis: randomised trials

Daily cyclic sighing improved mood in one preliminary randomized trial.

Population: Adults in a remote one-month breathwork trial; the contextual review included 12 stress trials and 785 adults.

Research details

Summary

A remote trial compared five minutes daily of cyclic sighing, box breathing or cyclic hyperventilation with mindfulness meditation over one month. Exhale-focused cyclic sighing improved mood and reduced respiratory rate relative to meditation. A meta-analysis of other breathwork protocols supports the general direction but cannot isolate this technique.

Why this certainty

Limited because the direct evidence is a single preliminary trial. Broader breathwork studies use heterogeneous techniques and mostly moderate risk of bias.

Limitations

The cyclic-sighing study was exploratory, retrospectively registered and had limited control over how participants practised. Short follow-up and subjective mood measures do not establish treatment of anxiety disorders or durable clinical benefit.

Sources for this outcome:

What people say

Who discusses this?

Public statements, with positions specific to each source and topic. These views do not determine the scientific evidence assessment.

What the research shows ↑

Practical steps and precautions

How to try it

  1. Sit comfortably in a safe, quiet place and begin with normal breathing.
  2. Inhale gently, take a second smaller inhale, then exhale slowly and fully without straining or holding your breath.
  3. The trial used five minutes daily for one month. Start comfortably and assess whether the practice helps your mood rather than forcing a particular breath count.

Precautions

  • Stop and return to normal breathing if you feel dizzy, breathless or uncomfortable.
  • Do breathing exercises while seated; avoid practising in water, while driving or during a task requiring attention.

References

Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal.

Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, Weed L, Nouriani B, Jo B, Holl G, Zeitzer JM, Spiegel D, Huberman AD. · Cell reports. Medicine · 2023

Randomized trial of daily breathwork versus mindfulness meditationVerified from full text
Open original source

Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials

Fincham GW, Strauss C, Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K · Scientific Reports · 2023

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of breathwork, using random-effects models with self-reported/subjective stress as the primary outcomeVerified from abstract
Open original source

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Discussion

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Editorial history and review method

Revision 2 · Approved for publication · Codex (publication approval explicitly authorized by site owner; category migration)

Prepared and checked with AI. Publication approval does not imply independent expert review. Request a correction.

New revision-1 Standard draft. Evidence and original-video attribution are separate. Check practice matching, population and formulation limits, null results and safety wording before independent approval. Sources: balban-2023-cyclic-sighing, fincham-2023. Publication release 2026-10-04: site owner authorized a bounded AI audit and release of this exact revision. See docs/release-audit-2026-10-04.md for source-check findings and limits. No independent health-professional or peer review is claimed. Category migration 2026-10-04: removed the separate goals field; categories: Focus → Focus, Stress & wellbeing. Research assessments, sources, guidance, precautions, and evidence review dates are unchanged. This revision awaits publication approval; no new evidence review is claimed. Publication approval 2026-10-04: site owner explicitly accepted all current category-migration revisions for deployment and requested that remaining limitations be retained in docs/content-review-backlog.md. Approval applies to this exact content revision. No new evidence review, independent expert review, or clinical validation is claimed; existing precautions and disclosures remain in effect.