Shownotes
In this episode of Pause Here, we explore the sigh - what it is, why we do it, and why this simple breath may be one of the body’s quietest reset tools. We look at how sighing supports the lungs, interrupts stress, and helps shift the nervous system as a natural part of how the body regulates itself. We also adapt Pausing Point’s Calm breathing pattern into a simple sigh-based practice: inhale for 4, take a soft extra inhale for 2, and exhale for 6.
Press play, take a breath, let it out, and discover what your body may have been trying to tell you with every sigh.
- Shaffer, F., & Ginsberg, J. P. (2017). An overview of heart rate variability metrics and norms. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, Article 258.
- Ramirez, J.-M. (2014). The integrative role of the sigh in psychology, physiology, pathology, and neurobiology. Progress in Brain Research, 209, 91–129.
- Li, P., Janczewski, W. A., Yackle, K., Kam, K., Pagliardini, S., Krasnow, M. A., & Feldman, J. L. (2016). The peptidergic control circuit for sighing. Nature, 530(7590), 293–297.
- Knudsen, L., & Ochs, M. (2018). The micromechanics of lung alveoli: Structure and function of surfactant and tissue components. Histochemistry and Cell Biology, 150(6), 661–676
- Hirsch, J. A., & Bishop, B. (1981). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia in humans: How breathing pattern modulates heart rate. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 241(4), H620–H629.
- Grossman, P., & Taylor, E. W. (2007). Toward understanding respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Relations to cardiac vagal tone, evolution and biobehavioral functions. Biological Psychology, 74(2), 263–285.
- Balban, M. Y., Neri, E., Kogon, M. M., Weed, L., Nouriani, B., Jo, B., Holl, G., Zeitzer, J. M., Spiegel, D., & Huberman, A. D. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), Article 100895.