Sighing Increases Flexibility of Breathing Systems

A new research says that sighing is critical for keeping our breathing systems flexible.

Scientists have found that sighing resets breathing patterns that are getting out of whack and keep our respiratory system flexible.

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The study by researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium involved rigging up eight men and 34 women with sensor-equipped shirts that record their breathing, heart rates and blood carbon dioxide levels over 20 minutes of quiet sitting.

What the scientists were looking for were specific changes over one-minute periods encompassing sighs that could confirm or contradict the 're-setter hypothesis' for the function of sighing.

"Our results show that the respiratory dynamics are different before and after a sigh. We hypothesize that a sigh acts as a general re-setter of the respiratory system," Discovery News quoted Elke Vlemincx and her co-authors as saying.

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The re-setter hypothesis is based on the idea that breathing is an inherently dynamic and rather chaotic system, with all sorts of internal and external factors changing how much oxygen we need and keeping our lungs healthy and ready for action.

This sort of system requires a balance of meaningful signals and random noise to operate correctly.

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Occasional noise in a physiological system -- like the respiratory system-is essential because it enables the body to learn how to respond flexibly to the unexpected, Vlemincx said.

"A sigh can be considered a noise factor because it has a respiratory volume out of range," said Vlemincx.

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In this experiment, a sigh was defined as at least two times as large as the mean breath volume.

"A breath is defined by a specific volume (depth), the amount of air we breathe in and out, and a specific timing, the time it takes to breathe in and out. Both these characteristics vary: from one moment to the next we breathe slower, faster, shallower, deeper," Vlemincx said.

Vlemincx said that when breathing is in one state for too long, the lungs deteriorate. They become stiffer and less efficient in gas exchange.

Therefore, in times of stress, when breathing is less variable, a sigh can reset the respiratory system and loosen the lung's air sacs, or alveoli, which may be accompanied by a sensation of relief, Vlemincx said.

The study has been published in the latest issue of the journal Biological Psychology.

Source-ANI
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