Dr. Andy Galpin

I'm bringing that up because that group, led by Tanya Bentley, recently published a phenomenal review article. We'll link it in the show notes. But I want to share with you what they found. They were looking directly at the relationship between breathwork for stress and anxiety. What do we know?

In that review, they found, I think, 72 papers and something like 75 or 80% of the papers found that the breathwork helped. So just on a surface, if we want to say like, does breathwork actually help for anxiety and stress? I think pretty clearly the vast majority of the time it does.

In that review, they found, I think, 72 papers and something like 75 or 80% of the papers found that the breathwork helped. So just on a surface, if we want to say like, does breathwork actually help for anxiety and stress? I think pretty clearly the vast majority of the time it does.

But what was really interesting that Tanya did there is she started breaking down the papers and saying, well, what was true among the papers that worked? And what was true among the papers that didn't? And can we glean anything from that? And the answer was yes. So here we go.

But what was really interesting that Tanya did there is she started breaking down the papers and saying, well, what was true among the papers that worked? And what was true among the papers that didn't? And can we glean anything from that? And the answer was yes. So here we go.

There were a handful of things, in fact, five things specifically that were common among all those papers that showed it worked. And here they are. Number one, they avoided fast only breathing practices. I know these are very popular. People love the max inhalation, exhalation stuff. They like hyperventilation breathing.

There were a handful of things, in fact, five things specifically that were common among all those papers that showed it worked. And here they are. Number one, they avoided fast only breathing practices. I know these are very popular. People love the max inhalation, exhalation stuff. They like hyperventilation breathing.

If your goal is to try to reduce stress and anxiety chronically, pretty clear evidence at this point, that alone will not do it. Doesn't mean you can't hyperventilate. Doesn't mean it can't be part of your practice. But if your only practice is chronic hyperventilate or consistent hyperventilation, probably not going to be effective for reducing your stress and anxiety long-term.

If your goal is to try to reduce stress and anxiety chronically, pretty clear evidence at this point, that alone will not do it. Doesn't mean you can't hyperventilate. Doesn't mean it can't be part of your practice. But if your only practice is chronic hyperventilate or consistent hyperventilation, probably not going to be effective for reducing your stress and anxiety long-term.

Number two, the breath practice needs to be longer than five minutes. Number three, generally needs to be human guided. So people that do it by themselves, initially, probably not the best strategy. Whether you're physically in a room with somebody, that doesn't seem to matter. But you need to have somebody coaching you through something at some point, especially initially. Number four,

Number two, the breath practice needs to be longer than five minutes. Number three, generally needs to be human guided. So people that do it by themselves, initially, probably not the best strategy. Whether you're physically in a room with somebody, that doesn't seem to matter. But you need to have somebody coaching you through something at some point, especially initially. Number four,

It takes multiple sessions per week. You can't do this once in a while. You can do it and feel that acute effect, but it won't have that carry over chronic benefit. Number five, there need to be a little bit more of longer term practices. This is that four to six to eight week thing.

It takes multiple sessions per week. You can't do this once in a while. You can do it and feel that acute effect, but it won't have that carry over chronic benefit. Number five, there need to be a little bit more of longer term practices. This is that four to six to eight week thing.

So if we were to recap that, if you're using non-exclusively hyperventilation, you're doing it more than five minutes, ideally multiple times per day, someone that knows what they're doing has designed it, and you're giving yourself four to five, six weeks, you got about a 70 to 80% chance that it will meaningfully and clinically improve your anxiety and your stress.

So if we were to recap that, if you're using non-exclusively hyperventilation, you're doing it more than five minutes, ideally multiple times per day, someone that knows what they're doing has designed it, and you're giving yourself four to five, six weeks, you got about a 70 to 80% chance that it will meaningfully and clinically improve your anxiety and your stress.

That's some framework for breath protocols. Should work. Most of that will take care of HRV, CO2 tolerance, resting heart rates, and respiratory rate. The next big category I want to talk about are what are called biofeedback mechanisms. There's a lot of things here, tons of research. I've actually been tinkering with this stuff for probably 15 years or so at this point.

That's some framework for breath protocols. Should work. Most of that will take care of HRV, CO2 tolerance, resting heart rates, and respiratory rate. The next big category I want to talk about are what are called biofeedback mechanisms. There's a lot of things here, tons of research. I've actually been tinkering with this stuff for probably 15 years or so at this point.

I want to categorize them for today's conversation into two main areas. One, what I'll call internal, and the other that are called external. So the internal ones are when you're trying to have that interoception. You're trying to pay attention to your heart rate. And I'm intentionally telling you to slow your breathing down. So that's an internal focus.

I want to categorize them for today's conversation into two main areas. One, what I'll call internal, and the other that are called external. So the internal ones are when you're trying to have that interoception. You're trying to pay attention to your heart rate. And I'm intentionally telling you to slow your breathing down. So that's an internal focus.

External is when you're actually watching your physiology on some screen and you're just trying to make that thing improve. So I'm not telling you how to do it. I'm telling you what I want the response to be. And you're using that direct visual feedback to make alterations. Both are great. They're a little bit different. And there's a lot of tools within them.