What is cyclic sighing?

When you’re feeling anxious, one of the best things you can do to calm your nerves is to focus on controlling your breathing. When you feel anxious, your body goes into a fight or flight response and releases cortisol - your heart rate and breathing rate increase, which can worsen your anxious feelings.

Controlling your breath and slowing down your breathing rate can help minimize your anxiety symptoms. Cyclic sighing emphasizes long exhalations to calm the nervous system down and reduce the stress response. Aim for your exhalations to be twice as long as your inhalations.