Andrew Huberman· PhD
The science of the physiological sigh
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The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
The science of the physiological sigh
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Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.
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Notch down stress in real-time w/ physiological sighs (nasal inhale 2X, then exhale to lungs empty).
The most effective (fast and physiologically supported) protocol is a “physiological sigh”: 2 back-to-back inhales via the nose to maximum lung inflation, followed by full exhale to lungs empty (via the mouth).
Physiological Sighs to de-stress fast.
Try a "psychological sigh," termed by Stanford neuroscientist @hubermanlab: - Two short inhales through the nose - One long exhale through the mouth - Repeat one to three times
Physiological sigh (deep vigorous inhale through your nose until lungs are full, then sneak in a bit more air with another sharp inhale, then exhale until your lungs are empty).
The @washingtonpost provided some nice coverage of our lab’s study (also w/Dr David Spiegel’s lab) @StanfordMed identifying minimal effective stress reduction/mood protocols & the particular power of physiological sighs, as published in @CellRepMed https://t.co/yrQaOAqq6X
The fastest way to de-stress is the physiological sigh (& there is mechanistic data to support why): https://t.co/mnbLAJFhob
Very good data on physiological sighs for real time stress mitigation
And the physiological sigh is something that we do spontaneously. But when you're feeling stressed, you can do a double inhale, [inhales deeply] [exhales] long exhale.
And turns out you're all doing this all the time, but you are doing it involuntarily. And when you stress, you tend to forget that you can also activate these systems voluntarily.
And the tool that at least to my knowledge is the fastest and most thoroughly grounded in physiology and neuroscience for calming down in a self-directed way is what's called the physiological sigh, S-I-G-H.
So it's big inhale through the nose, then short inhale through the nose immediately after that in order to maximally inflate the lungs, and then a long exhale through the mouth until your lungs are empty.
And it works so well to reduce stress very quickly not because it brings in the maximum amount of oxygen and removes the maximum amount of carbon dioxide but, rather, because it optimally balances oxygen and carbon dioxide.
I'm very gratified to learn that the physiological sigh is now being explored as a tool to prevent panic attacks and anxiety attacks.
it's two inhales through the nose long to lungs empty exhale through the mouth that's the physiological PSI earlier we talked about the fact that one of the main ways in which listening to music shifts heart rate and increases heart rate variability and thereby positively shifts a number of different Health metrics is through shifts in breathing so I justify that brief vignette about the physiological PSI as within the general context of what we're talking about today
30 rapid deep breaths followed by physiological sigh (double inhale, long exhale)
physiological size to inhales followed by a long exhale fastest way I'm aware of to shift your nervous system to a more par Paras sympathic parasympathetic mode excuse me and calm down