Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior • Hacker News Board

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#101

Post by toxik » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 8:03 PM UTC

t-3 wrote: post #58

toxik wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean Daniel Tiger in general just makes me cringe, it's just so extremely American. Absolutely zero stakes, all problems are resolved perfectly within literal seconds. Nothing is left "unfinished", never dares to leave the conflict unresolved for any meaningful amount of time. It's just such a stark contrast to, say, Peppa Pig, where the message is basically always some form of "shit is going to happen, find ways t…

I agree with the "extremely American", but the not getting upset is just also an extremely American adoption of elite mannerisms at all levels of society. Publically showing emotion is considered vulgar and low-class in many cultures.

Interesting point about class signaling, but it doesn't explain Peppa Pig (or Bluey) showing a more healthy approach to teaching emotional regulation. The English certainly value that same kind of behavior after all.

Kids learn really fast that they can't just act out with their peers for fear of rejection by the group. It's extremely strong and parents need to teach the other half of it, dealing with negative emotions WITHOUT acting out. I feel like DT does a disservice here.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#102

Post by scrollop » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 8:31 PM UTC

achow wrote: post #39

Sam6late wrote: post #17

Slow breathing is also recommended for novices before public speaking, as it helps speakers overcome irrational physiological fear of facing people, the risk-taking shift is useful as it helps you speak more confidently, not more cautiously. Slow breathing can calm nerves quickly; bottom-up regulation: body tells brain “you’re safe”.

Slow breathing (in yoga: pranayama) instantly down-regulates your nervous system by boosting vagal tone and lowering sympathetic "fight-or-flight" activity. When your breath lengthens, it signals your brain that you are completely safe, dropping your heart rate and lowering blood pressure. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12858147/

Pranayama is translated more as "control of the breath"- there are some techniques that are much faster than normal respiration eg Bhastrika and Kapalbhati.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#103

Post by YesBox » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 9:04 PM UTC

Sam6late wrote: post #17

Slow breathing is also recommended for novices before public speaking, as it helps speakers overcome irrational physiological fear of facing people, the risk-taking shift is useful as it helps you speak more confidently, not more cautiously. Slow breathing can calm nerves quickly; bottom-up regulation: body tells brain “you’re safe”.

I've found a few cycles of > works quite well.

Box breathing is 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds exhale, 4 seconds hold. IIRC you are supposed to take in as much air as you can on the inhale, and let it all out on the exhale.

After you do a few cycles of BB, take in as much air as you can, then hold your breath for as long as you can.

You'll feel the results immediately

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#104

Post by skyberrys » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

YZF wrote: post #100

brador wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cancel the Muai Thai, switch to Judo immediately. Your brain is attached to your inner skull with candyfloss like tendrils. They do not repair. Software engineering, even prompting, with a concussion or CTE is impossible.

Judo isn't that healthy either. Many Judo-ka have hurt their backs from the damage accumulated from falls and there are other ways to injure yourself in Judo. If you're looking for those sorts of high stress combat situations you can get that with Karate styles that practice a lot less contact. There's still high pressure but a lot less than full contact fighting where you're just hitting and getting hit all the time…

Might VR boxing be a possible alternative to actually being hit? I don't think our brains distinguish well between actually being hurt and feeling the stress of the game. For instance I used to study for tests while my husband played violent video games with loud sounds because all the screaming was stressful for me and so was actually taking the test. So the combination of studying under stress and taking the test under stress helped me retain the knowledge better.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#105

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#106

Post by YZF » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 10:15 PM UTC

skyberrys wrote: post #104

YZF wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judo isn't that healthy either. Many Judo-ka have hurt their backs from the damage accumulated from falls and there are other ways to injure yourself in Judo. If you're looking for those sorts of high stress combat situations you can get that with Karate styles that practice a lot less contact. There's still high pressure but a lot less than full contact fighting where you're just hitting and getting hit all the time…

Might VR boxing be a possible alternative to actually being hit? I don't think our brains distinguish well between actually being hurt and feeling the stress of the game. For instance I used to study for tests while my husband played violent video games with loud sounds because all the screaming was stressful for me and so was actually taking the test. So the combination of studying under stress and taking the test u…

I have no experience with VR boxing but I can tell you there's no comparison between e.g. a tournament Karate match and first person shooters. I never heard about this idea that studying under stress can help you perform in a test...

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#107

Post by bitwize » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 10:32 PM UTC

toxik wrote: post #101

t-3 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the "extremely American", but the not getting upset is just also an extremely American adoption of elite mannerisms at all levels of society. Publically showing emotion is considered vulgar and low-class in many cultures.

Interesting point about class signaling, but it doesn't explain Peppa Pig (or Bluey) showing a more healthy approach to teaching emotional regulation. The English certainly value that same kind of behavior after all. Kids learn really fast that they can't just act out with their peers for fear of rejection by the group. It's extremely strong and parents need to teach the other half of it, dealing with negative emotio…

If so, it's a failure to uphold Fred Rogers' original ideas. He aimed to teach kids how to handle anger, frustration, and other negative emotions by finding safe outlets, not by suppressing them.

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#108

Post by bitwize » Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 10:33 PM UTC

RossBencina wrote: post #5

ansk wrote: post #3

I've found breathing exercises to be effective for the duration of the exercise, but I'm more interested in the possibility of training myself to adjust my respiration patterns over sustained durations. Would it be beneficial -- or even possible at all -- to adjust my body's default/subconscious breathing patterns to match those mentioned in the article? Tangentially related, are there any wearable devices that allow…

I have read that skilled mindfulness practitioners maintain constant awareness of their breathing pattern throughout all other waking activities. Something to aspire to perhaps.

Wait until you discover the hesychasts of Orthodox Christianity and their "ceaseless prayer of the heart".

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#109

Post by oliculipolicula » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #70

elendilm wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the greatest achievements in science & engineering were accomplished during wartime under intense stress or obsession - not a relaxed parasympathetic state. That alone should make us skeptical of simplistic claims that calmer physiological states are inherently "more optimal" for complex cognition.

My take about athletic performance is that it is good to be relaxed up until the moment you need to act. Even when I play Beat Saber multiplayer I think it is a mistake to be waving your arms around at the beginning or during pauses because fatigue builds up through the level. Eustress is phasic rather than tonic. Even outside wartime great accomplishments come through obsession though, but I would say that the peopl…

Schwarzschild (not a fambizman) seemed unusually calm

https://archive.ph/ZaXx7

>The moon crossed the sky so quickly, it seemed time itself had sped up. My soldiers readied their arms and waited for the order to attack, but the phenomenon was so strange and unsettling, they thought it a bad omen, and I could see the fear in their eyes.

Modern reenactment would be Asano Tadanobu during the eclipse scene in The Mongol (or during the whole movie, really)

(Remember that he volunteered for war

They also made Napoleon highstrung all the time, that the most accurate portrayal might be the one without gravitas people don't care about , the one with John Malkovich.

Some will argue sleepy Napoleon is also accurate, but how about the Japanese AI taking the opp to indulge in some loving cultural appropriation (glorified fanbiz). BC Asano has shown us he too can comedy. )

Psychopaths (any inappropriately calm people) might be necessary for advancement but not for reasons or traits that are easy to obtain (or fake)

Unless (but not sufficiently) one _chooses_ to go against one's own grain

>Only a vision of the whole, like that of a saint, a madman, or a mystic, will permit us to decipher the true organizing principles of the universe

Most terrifying (ie awe-inspiring) should be a madman who can fake that he cares about anything at all, including other people?

Re: Slow breathing modulates brain function and risk behavior

#110

Post by balfirevic » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC

epihelix wrote: post #67

cryzinger wrote: post #4

Parasympathetic nervous activation increased risk-taking behavior? That's interesting/unexpected (at least to me). Also, this part caught my eye: > The selective impact of prolonged exhalation breathing on reward responsiveness has important implications for clinical contexts, such as anxiety, panic disorder, and depression, given their distinct autonomic signatures and maladaptive reward processing. By enhancing car…

Yes, it's weird. It's like the authors did the experiments, analysed them, understood that their research suggested that slow breathing was having the exact opposite effect of all that the psuedoscience/wellness/psychobabble community have assumed ... ... and then just ran with "yay, slow breathing!! Transformative, amirite??" And sure, "transformative" is not technically incorrect. But the linguistic implications of…

> whereas in this case the transformation is overwhelmingly negative.

> The finding that this technique is actually bad in most cases

Why do you think this?