A lot of this is complete hokum, and it’s frustrating because the people who should know better end up being the most caught up in the pseudoscience…
Edit (don't want to give folks a second comment do downvote into oblivion): I need y'all to understand, "Just try it." is not the counterargument you think it is. I'd expect that from Scientologists and homeopathy advocates. I don't need to "just try" NSAIDs to believe they work, and plenty of people feel "good" after visiting a chiropractor despite that being much more obvious and clear hokum.
And no, one or a dozen studies do not validate a damn thing on their own. There is not the level of consensus you think there is when it comes to any of this, the article even points this out at the top.
Pseudoscience would be if breathing exercises didn’t have a significant effect on cortisol levels. But some randomised trials have proven that they do. If you apply an additional reason over the top of the breathing like the utterance of certain words that make it work or not, I’d agree with you. From personal experience having attended meditation classes when stressed out, I have found “omm ar humm” very effective in reaching a relaxed lower stress state. I didn’t know this was called box breathing to make the omm (in) arr (the pause held at the heart) and the humm (the outbreath) the same length. So that was a lesson for me. I have however experimented with different non religious words and found it effective in reaching that pleasant meditation very rapidly.
You have a point but don't throw the "baby out with the bathwater". The problem is that much of the ancient Yogic Pranayama techniques were discovered empirically but its explanation models do not quite match with our current Scientific Models (which is of course vastly more detailed and Complex). We do have the broad ideas covered and a lot of micro-details worked out but no one has as yet put everything together and explained it end-to-end using Modern Science. Hence all the charlatans/woo-woo peddlers having a field day with the gullible public. So it behooves us to study a little bit by ourselves to get at the facts/truth. With that in mind you might find the following useful;
- A Physiological Handbook for Teachers of Yogasana by Mel Robin (the 2nd edition is called A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers, The Incorporation of Neuroscience, Physiology and Anatomy into the Practice): This is a huge book where the author (himself a researcher) has tried to explain the ancient practice in terms of Modern Science. The bibliography is quite large and lists a lot of Studies/Papers on the subject.
So my suggestion is not to dismiss wholesale "Sciences" which were discovered empirically and practiced over generations but try to practice it and explain it using Modern Science as much as possible. That is how "Real Science" advances.
Though I am skeptical myself, it's much different than other many other hokum/pseudoscience in that it is probably not very harmful and no one tries to sell you something.
Quick google searches show that there are in fact studies that show that different breathing techniques do help with anxiety. The article itself links some.
Now I’m not saying they are or aren’t placebo. I don’t know anything myself.
Anecdotally though, breathing exercises feel good to do.
I do know for a fact that I can lower my heart rate by altering by how I breathe. It’s really easy to demonstrate that with a cheap heart rate monitor.
I’d suggest giving that a try yourself. You might be surprised at how easy it is.
Are you speaking from personal experience wherein you made a good-faith effort to try different breathing techniques and experienced no benefits? Or have you reviewed research showing an absence of benefits? Or are you reflexively dismissing the whole field?
Personally I found that box breathing helped with one reflexive reaction I always had in times of high stress, namely taking in a lot of air and holding it like that.
Have you tried box breathing? It works really well for me. I have no idea though how such a simple technique could be proved to be placebo or not proved to be one.
Comments
A lot of this is complete hokum, and it’s frustrating because the people who should know better end up being the most caught up in the pseudoscience…
Edit (don't want to give folks a second comment do downvote into oblivion): I need y'all to understand, "Just try it." is not the counterargument you think it is. I'd expect that from Scientologists and homeopathy advocates. I don't need to "just try" NSAIDs to believe they work, and plenty of people feel "good" after visiting a chiropractor despite that being much more obvious and clear hokum.
And no, one or a dozen studies do not validate a damn thing on their own. There is not the level of consensus you think there is when it comes to any of this, the article even points this out at the top.
Pseudoscience would be if breathing exercises didn’t have a significant effect on cortisol levels. But some randomised trials have proven that they do. If you apply an additional reason over the top of the breathing like the utterance of certain words that make it work or not, I’d agree with you. From personal experience having attended meditation classes when stressed out, I have found “omm ar humm” very effective in reaching a relaxed lower stress state. I didn’t know this was called box breathing to make the omm (in) arr (the pause held at the heart) and the humm (the outbreath) the same length. So that was a lesson for me. I have however experimented with different non religious words and found it effective in reaching that pleasant meditation very rapidly.
"But some randomised trials have proven that they do"
It would be nice if you posted some links to those ostensible studies.
You have a point but don't throw the "baby out with the bathwater". The problem is that much of the ancient Yogic Pranayama techniques were discovered empirically but its explanation models do not quite match with our current Scientific Models (which is of course vastly more detailed and Complex). We do have the broad ideas covered and a lot of micro-details worked out but no one has as yet put everything together and explained it end-to-end using Modern Science. Hence all the charlatans/woo-woo peddlers having a field day with the gullible public. So it behooves us to study a little bit by ourselves to get at the facts/truth. With that in mind you might find the following useful;
- Movement of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide in the Body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMeG75wqsRc
- Blood Gases: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KudrLakBgeU
- Breath of Life: The Respiratory Vagal Stimulation Model of Contemplative Activity: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6189422/
- Benefits from one session of deep and slow breathing on Vagal tone and anxiety in young and older adults : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98736-9
- A Physiological Handbook for Teachers of Yogasana by Mel Robin (the 2nd edition is called A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers, The Incorporation of Neuroscience, Physiology and Anatomy into the Practice): This is a huge book where the author (himself a researcher) has tried to explain the ancient practice in terms of Modern Science. The bibliography is quite large and lists a lot of Studies/Papers on the subject.
So my suggestion is not to dismiss wholesale "Sciences" which were discovered empirically and practiced over generations but try to practice it and explain it using Modern Science as much as possible. That is how "Real Science" advances.
I don't think it's pseudoscience, it's difficult to do RCTs with this but breathing techniques are definitely reproducible and falsifiable.
Furthermore, if it is, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. If it's pseudoscientific and not effective, it can still help through no/placebo.
It's not like box breathing is going to damage you (or others) if it doesn't do anything (it doesn't do much for me).
Though I am skeptical myself, it's much different than other many other hokum/pseudoscience in that it is probably not very harmful and no one tries to sell you something.
Quick google searches show that there are in fact studies that show that different breathing techniques do help with anxiety. The article itself links some.
Now I’m not saying they are or aren’t placebo. I don’t know anything myself.
Anecdotally though, breathing exercises feel good to do.
I do know for a fact that I can lower my heart rate by altering by how I breathe. It’s really easy to demonstrate that with a cheap heart rate monitor.
I’d suggest giving that a try yourself. You might be surprised at how easy it is.
Are you speaking from personal experience wherein you made a good-faith effort to try different breathing techniques and experienced no benefits? Or have you reviewed research showing an absence of benefits? Or are you reflexively dismissing the whole field?
Or some combination of the above?
Personally I found that box breathing helped with one reflexive reaction I always had in times of high stress, namely taking in a lot of air and holding it like that.
I feel noticeably better, with measurably improved blood pressure after breathing exercises. Why do you say it's pseudoscience?
Science smience. You either try it and see if it works for you or you don’t.
It's literally just breathing deeply.
'breathing deeply has changed my life!'
Have you tried box breathing? It works really well for me. I have no idea though how such a simple technique could be proved to be placebo or not proved to be one.
Clarify "a lot of this" ?
It works. Try it.