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Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials
Deliberate control of the breath (breathwork) has recently received an unprecedented surge in public interest and breathing techniques have therapeutic potential to improve mental health. Our meta-analysis primarily aimed to evaluate the efficacy of breathwork through examining whether, and to what...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9828383/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36624160 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y |
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author | Fincham, Guy William Strauss, Clara Montero-Marin, Jesus Cavanagh, Kate |
author_facet | Fincham, Guy William Strauss, Clara Montero-Marin, Jesus Cavanagh, Kate |
author_sort | Fincham, Guy William |
collection | PubMed |
description | Deliberate control of the breath (breathwork) has recently received an unprecedented surge in public interest and breathing techniques have therapeutic potential to improve mental health. Our meta-analysis primarily aimed to evaluate the efficacy of breathwork through examining whether, and to what extent, breathwork interventions were associated with lower levels of self-reported/subjective stress compared to non-breathwork controls. We searched PsycInfo, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov and ISRCTN up to February 2022, initially identifying 1325 results. The primary outcome self-reported/subjective stress included 12 randomised-controlled trials (k = 12) with a total of 785 adult participants. Most studies were deemed as being at moderate risk of bias. The random-effects analysis yielded a significant small-to-medium mean effect size, g = − 0.35 [95% CI − 0.55, − 0.14], z = 3.32, p = 0.0009, showing breathwork was associated with lower levels of stress than control conditions. Heterogeneity was intermediate and approaching significance, χ(2)(11) = 19, p = 0.06, I(2) = 42%. Meta-analyses for secondary outcomes of self-reported/subjective anxiety (k = 20) and depressive symptoms (k = 18) showed similar significant effect sizes: g = − 0.32, p < 0.0001, and g = − 0.40, p < 0.0001, respectively. Heterogeneity was moderate and significant for both. 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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9828383 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-98283832023-01-09 Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials Fincham, Guy William Strauss, Clara Montero-Marin, Jesus Cavanagh, Kate Sci Rep Article Deliberate control of the breath (breathwork) has recently received an unprecedented surge in public interest and breathing techniques have therapeutic potential to improve mental health. Our meta-analysis primarily aimed to evaluate the efficacy of breathwork through examining whether, and to what extent, breathwork interventions were associated with lower levels of self-reported/subjective stress compared to non-breathwork controls. We searched PsycInfo, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov and ISRCTN up to February 2022, initially identifying 1325 results. The primary outcome self-reported/subjective stress included 12 randomised-controlled trials (k = 12) with a total of 785 adult participants. Most studies were deemed as being at moderate risk of bias. The random-effects analysis yielded a significant small-to-medium mean effect size, g = − 0.35 [95% CI − 0.55, − 0.14], z = 3.32, p = 0.0009, showing breathwork was associated with lower levels of stress than control conditions. Heterogeneity was intermediate and approaching significance, χ(2)(11) = 19, p = 0.06, I(2) = 42%. Meta-analyses for secondary outcomes of self-reported/subjective anxiety (k = 20) and depressive symptoms (k = 18) showed similar significant effect sizes: g = − 0.32, p < 0.0001, and g = − 0.40, p < 0.0001, respectively. Heterogeneity was moderate and significant for both. 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. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-01-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9828383/ /pubmed/36624160 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Fincham, Guy William Strauss, Clara Montero-Marin, Jesus Cavanagh, Kate Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title | Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title_full | Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title_fullStr | Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title_full_unstemmed | Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title_short | Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
title_sort | effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9828383/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36624160 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y |
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