Trial reportComplementary therapies in medicine2023
Slow breathing for reducing stress: The effect of extending exhale.
Trial report in Complementary therapies in medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07541820 (Tailored Yoga Therapy for Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults), which is not on this map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Tailored Yoga Therapy for Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults: A Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions Based on Biofeedback Systems to Improve Workers' Psychological Well-Being, Mental Health, and Safety: Systematic Literature Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Auditory Biofeedback through Wind Instrument Training: A Breath-Controlled Acoustic Strategy for Modulating Anxiety and Sleep.Noise & healthPooled it
- Cyclic sighing in the clinic waiting room may decrease pain: results from a pilot randomized controlled trial.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Trial
- Effectiveness and Usability of Digital Slow Breathing and Detached Mindfulness Interventions in Late Adolescents: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Feasibility and Acceptability of Craniosacral Therapy and Respiratory Training in Mothers of Children with Disabilities: Protocol for a Three-Arm Non-Randomized Controlled Pilot and Feasibility Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A mechanism-driven real-time respiratory modulation framework for rapid affective regulation via prefrontal EEG computational phenotyping.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neurophysiological mechanisms of breathing-based well-being practices: a narrative review for clinical application.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Therapeutic potential of slow pranayama in anxiety.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Review
- Correlation of physiological stress as measured by heart rate and blood pressure variability and self-reported anxiety.Research square · 2025Article
- Breathwork for Chronic Stress and Mental Health: Does Choosing a Specific Technique Matter?Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The A52 Breath Method: A Narrative Review of Breathwork for Mental Health and Stress Resilience.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Review
- Sensing, feeling and regulating: investigating the association of focal brain damage with voluntary respiratory and motor control.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Blood Pressure and Autonomic Changes From 12-Weeks of Yoga-Based Slow Breathing Exercises.Global advances in integrative medicine and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionSlow breathing techniques are commonly used to reduce stress. While it is believed by mind-body practitioners that extending the exhale time relative to inhale increases relaxation, this has not been demonstrated.
methodsWe conducted a 12-week randomized, single-blinded trial among 100 participants to compare if yoga-based slow breathing with an exhale greater inhale versus an exhale equals inhale produces measurable differences in physiological and psychological stress among healthy adults.
resultsParticipants mean individual instruction attendance was 10.7 ± 1.5 sessions out of 12 offered sessions. The mean weekly home practice was 4.8 ± 1.2 practices per week. There was no statistical difference between treatment groups for frequency of class attendance, home practice, or achieved slow breathing respiratory rate. Participants demonstrated fidelity to assigned breath ratios with home practice as measured by remote biometric assessments through smart garments (HEXOSKIN). Regular slow breathing practice for 12 weeks significantly reduced psychological stress as measured by PROMIS Anxiety (-4.85 S.D. ± 5.53, confidence interval [-5.60, -3.00], but not physiological stress as measured by heart rate variability. Group comparisons showed small effect size differences (d = 0.2) with further reductions in psychological stress and physiological stress from baseline to 12 weeks for exhale greater than inhale versus exhale equals inhale, however these differences were not statistically significant.
conclusionWhile slow breathing significantly reduces psychological stress, breath ratios do not have a significant differential effect on stress reduction among healthy adults.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.