Improve control of the balance of the psychophysical status,
reduce stress and be better prepared for any kind of action

Scientific evidences of the benefits of resonant breathing (Cardiorespiratory Coherence)

In order to move from a position where we “believe” that the adoption of biofeedback techniques provide positive results to a more scientific position where we have measures “proving” the positive results, we have listed hereafter some of evidence in term of published scientific research finding.

In a research, published in the “Asian Journal of Sport and Medicine”[1], an experiment involving 30 basketball players demonstrated how slow breathing under control of biofeedback technique (cardiorespiratory coherence), at the individual resonant frequency, has positive effects on parameters such as shooting performance, movement time, concentration and choice reaction time.

Another research, published on the “Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management”[2], describes an experiment that involved 20 female manufacturing operators where it was found that the use of the resonant breathing under control of biofeedback technique (cardiorespiratory coherence) led to improved cognitive flexibility, verbal memory and decision-making.

A third research, published on “Hypertension”[3], involved 20 patients with essential hypertension and showed that the resonant breathing, under control of biofeedback technique (cardiorespiratory coherence), acutely reduced blood pressure in hypertension and improved baroreflex sensitivity.

From the “SCAN Research & Teaching Unit, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia,” an article[4] shows that a single session of slow breathing, regardless of biofeedback, is sufficient for controlling physiological arousal in anticipation of psychosocial stress associated with music performance, and that slow breathing is particularly helpful for musicians with high levels of anxiety.

There are number of other scientific articles from which we can summarize that the use of biofeedback techniques, measuring the cardiorespiratory coherence, lead to a better control of the balance of the psychophysical status, reducing stress and be better prepared for any kind of action to be performed.

But how does this work? What is the resonant breathing? To know it read the next section....

1. Maman Paul*, MSPT; Kanupriya Garg, MSPT; Jaspal Singh Sandhu, PhD – “Role of Biofeedback in Optimizing Psychomotor Performance in Sports” - Asian Jurnal of Sports Medicine. Mar 2012; 3(1): 29–40.
2. Auditya Purwandini Sutarto, Muhammad Nubli Abdul Wahab, Nora Mat Zin – “Heart Rate Variability (HRV) biofeedback: A new training approach for operator’s performance enhancement” - Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management 01/2010
3. Chacko N. Joseph, Cesare Porta, Gaia Casucci, Nadia Casiraghi, Mara Maffeis, Marco Rossi, Luciano Bernardi – “Slow Breathing Improves Arterial Baroreflex Sensitivity and Decreases Blood Pressure in Essential Hypertension” - Hypertension. 2005;46:714-718
4. Ruth Wells, Tim Outhred, James A. J. Heathers, Daniel S. Quintana, Andrew H. Kemp – “Matter Over Mind: A Randomised-Controlled Trial of Single-Session Biofeedback Training on Performance Anxiety and Heart Rate Variability in Musicians” - PLoS ONE 7(10): e46597