Is the estimated effect size (g=-0.35) -35%? That feels a bit high to me.
Effect size g is in units relative to variation. It's a corrected version of Cohen's d for cases of unequal variance between groups.
Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
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Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#12Papers should really come with a “jump to discussion/result” link
Its called the abstract. And its the first section of every official paper. Right at the end of the abstract: > Overall, results showed that breathwork may be effective for improving stress and mental health. However, we urge caution and advocate for nuanced research approaches with low risk-of-bias study designs to avoid a miscalibration between hype and evidence.
Also literally has a link to "conclusions" :)
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#13Is the estimated effect size (g=-0.35) -35%? That feels a bit high to me.
Cohen's d and Hedges' g shouldn't be interpreted as the size of the change in scores, but rather how the distribution is shifted. A score of .35 is considered a "low to moderate" effect.
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#14So the results from all studies are based on self-reported stress, studies may include other non-breathing related interventions, the breathwork intervention can comprise any number of kinds of breathwork, and authors themselves conclude that the studies included are at a “moderate” risk of bias?
Seems hard to say anything substantive about the conclusions when the inputs are that shaky.
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#154-7-8 breathing has origins in Pranayama FWIU? "Effects of sleep deprivation and 4-7-8 breathing control on heart rate variability, blood pressure, blood glucose, and endothelial function in healthy young adults" (2022) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9277512/ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C47&q=Eff... Pranayama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama
Yeah it's somewhat of a more broad term though? Like, the freakiest pranayama gets is rechaka pranayama, where you breathe out the air from your lungs and try to hold it out, depleting your blood-oxygen levels (hypoxia mimesis). Has also been practiced in qigong[1], thankfully you can't actually induce self-unconsciousness this way (at least not without, say, breathing into a bag[2]). But all to say that my understanding is that pranayama is just kind of yoga slang for "breathwork", there's not just one kind of it as far as I know?
1. https://www.pacificcollege.edu/news/blog/2020/03/26/the-link... 2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17324641/
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#16Papers should really come with a “jump to discussion/result” link
Its called the abstract. And its the first section of every official paper. Right at the end of the abstract: > Overall, results showed that breathwork may be effective for improving stress and mental health. However, we urge caution and advocate for nuanced research approaches with low risk-of-bias study designs to avoid a miscalibration between hype and evidence.
No, I agree with the original commenter.
It's about reading the full discussion section to understand it in nuance, see the caveats etc.
It's not about a summary -- it's about skipping the intro that reviews the literature you already know, the method, all the tables of results, and jumping to the actual good stuff.
I frequently find myself scrolling to get to that part, overshooting, scrolling back...
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#17A true control seems impossible for any "breathwork" study; anyone doing regimented breathing knows that they are doing something. And placebos work, whether you believe in them or not (say the studies ...)
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#18Anybody has done breathwork naturally without even knowing about its existence?
I didn't know any of this (had 0 interest in the body/yoga/meditation before) and I used to do this pattern of deeply inhaling slowly and holding until I can't really anymore, then slowly exhaling. Then repeating for a few times. Very relaxing.
Although I know about breathwork a bit more now and the different patterns, I am not sure if this practice has a name (but I wouldn't be surprised to find out if so).
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
#19I’ve been doing O2 and CO2 “tables” which are breath hold exercises for free diving. For co2 you hold for 2 mins, breathe for 2, hold for 2, breathe for 1:45, hold for 2, breathe for 1:30 and keep reducing the breathing until you’re at 15 seconds. It’s getting you used to co2 building up. Much more to it than that but the feeling during and after is incredible. Been doing yoga for 6 years and never had a feeling of c…
I had similar exercises when swimming: 4x25m with 3 breaths each 25m, 4x25m with 2 breaths each 25m, 4x25m with 1 breath each 25m, and 4x25m where you only breath when you hit the wall and turn. There are similar variants for 50m.
That made a huge difference expanding my lung capacity, and I still have most of that expanded lung capacity today.
Re: Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of RCTs
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