Anxiety and stress plague populations worldwide. Voluntary regulated breathing practices offer a tool to address this epidemic. We examined peer-reviewed published literature to understand effective approaches to and implementation of these practices. PubMed and ScienceDirect were searched to identify clinical trials evaluating isolated breathing-based interventions with psychometric stress/anxiety outcomes. Two independent reviewers conducted all screening and data extraction. Of 2904 unique articles, 731 abstracts, and 181 full texts screened, 58 met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-four of the studies’ 72 interventions were effective. Components of effective and ineffective interventions were evaluated to develop a conceptual framework of factors associated with stress/anxiety reduction effectiveness. Effective breath practices avoided fast-only breath paces and sessions <5 min, while including human-guided training, multiple sessions, and long-term practice. Population, other breath paces, session duration ≥5 min, and group versus individual or at-home practices were not associated with effectiveness. Analysis of interventions that did not fit this framework revealed that extensive standing, interruptions, involuntary diaphragmatic obstruction, and inadequate training for highly technical practices may render otherwise promising interventions ineffective. Following this evidence-based framework can help maximize the stress/anxiety reduction benefits of breathing practices. Future research is warranted to further refine this easily accessible intervention for stress/anxiety relief.

Stimuli that attract exogenous attention have been shown to interfere with behavioral performance on various tasks. In the present study, participants performed multiple-object tracking (MOT) in conditions where either neutral or negatively valenced images were flashed at fixation. Results reveal a significant impairment of tracking accuracy in the emotional MOT conditions compared to the neutral conditions specifically at the highest level of task difficulty. These findings suggest that emotional distraction is most detrimental when maximal endogenous attentional engagement is required. This interaction between emotional distraction and attentional load is inconsistent with existing models of emotional distraction. (PsycINFO Database Record

The ability to integrate our perceptions across sensory modalities and across time, to execute and coordinate movements, and to adapt to a changing environment rests on temporal processing. Timing is essential for basic daily tasks, such as walking, social interaction, speech and language comprehension, and attention. Impaired temporal processing may contribute to various disorders, from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia to Parkinson’s disease and dementia. The foundational importance of timing ability has yet to be fully understood; and popular tasks used to investigate behavioral timing ability, such as sensorimotor synchronization (SMS), engage a variety of processes in addition to the neural processing of time. The present study utilizes SMS in conjunction with a separate passive listening task that manipulates temporal expectancy while recording electroencephalographic data. Participants display a larger N1-P2 evoked potential complex to unexpected beats relative to temporally predictable beats, a differential we call the timing response index (TRI). The TRI correlates with performance on the SMS task: better synchronizers show a larger brain response to unexpected beats. The TRI, derived from the perceptually driven N1-P2 complex, disentangles the perceptual and motor components inherent in SMS and thus may serve as a neural marker of a more general temporal processing.

Background and Clinical Significance: Migraine is a common yet debilitating condition that significantly impacts personal lives, productivity, and the healthcare system. Pharmacological interventions provide relief for some migraine sufferers, but for others, are ineffective or accompanied by side effects. Emerging evidence implicates autonomic nervous system dysfunction in migraine pathophysiology, suggesting that mind–body interventions may offer a simple, cost-free therapeutic option. Case Presentation: A 61-year-old woman presented with severe daily migraines that had persisted for years despite medication and dietary changes. Upon starting a regular 10 min slow diaphragmatic breathing practice, her migraines ceased immediately. At a 12-month follow-up, she had only experienced two minor headaches and reported improvements in both daily functioning and quality of life. Conclusions: These findings underscore the potential role of autonomic imbalance in chronic migraine and the preliminary feasibility of breathing interventions as an accessible, low-risk treatment that may, for some, surpass medication in efficacy. Breathing practices may offer a viable alternative to pharmaceutical interventions that benefits both patients and healthcare systems alike.