Breathe Your Way to Calm: How Cyclic Sighing Reduces Stress
Anxiety and stress have surged in recent years, especially during the pandemic, leaving many of us searching for simple solutions—without needing special equipment. Stanford Medicine researchers have an intriguing answer: cyclic sighing, a controlled breathing practice that takes just five minutes a day yet can significantly lift your mood and calm your body (Stanford Medicine).
While it is not a replacement for psychotherapy, cyclic sighing can be a powerful tool alongside therapy to support emotional regulation, reduce stress, and lower anxiety in daily life.
What Makes Breathing So Powerful?
Breathing straddles the line between the automatic and the controllable—like digestion or heartbeat, yet entirely accessible to our conscious mind. That makes it a unique lever for influencing both physiology and emotion. As Dr. David Spiegel, who co-led the study alongside Andrew Huberman and Melis Yilmaz Balban, explains: by regulating how we breathe, “you can very easily take over and control your breath, which then affects your overall physiology and stress response.”
The Science Behind Cyclic Sighing
In a randomized controlled trial published in Cell Reports Medicine (January 2023), the Stanford team—Dr. Spiegel, Dr. Huberman, and Melis Yilmaz Balban—compared cyclic sighing to other breathing techniques and mindfulness meditation.
Over one month, participants who practiced just five minutes of cyclic sighing daily experienced:
Greater improvements in mood (especially positive affect)
A larger drop in respiratory rate than with mindfulness or other breathwork variants
These findings build on decades of work from neuroscientist Jack L. Feldman (UCLA), whose research uncovered the brain mechanisms that generate sighing. Together, these insights connect the dots from neural circuits to practical daily benefits.
How to Practice: The Simple Steps
Inhale slowly through your nose, filling your lungs comfortably.
Add a second, deeper "sip" of air to fully expand your lungs.
Exhale very slowly through your mouth until your lungs are completely empty.
Repeat for about five minutes. That’s it—straightforward, yet effective.
Why It Works—And Its Lasting Impact
Researchers believe the extended exhalation stimulates the vagus nerve and activates the parasympathetic “rest-and-digest” response, helping shift the body out of fight-or-flight mode.
The study’s participants not only felt calmer—they also reported steady improvements in energy, joy, and peacefulness across the month.
In summary: Cyclic sighing is a fast, accessible, and scientifically backed way to dial down anxiety and enhance emotional well-being—especially when used together with psychotherapy as part of a holistic approach to mental health.
To learn more, read the original article by Hadley Leggett on Stanford Medicine’s website.
Therapist’s Note
In my psychotherapy practice, I often integrate breathwork like cyclic sighing into sessions, particularly for clients coping with anxiety, high stress, or trauma-related symptoms. Used alongside talk therapy, this technique offers a practical, body-based way to regulate the nervous system between sessions—helping clients feel more grounded, resilient, and present in their daily lives.
