Psychophysiological effects of slow‐paced breathing at six cycles per minute with or without heart rate variability biofeedback
Open accessAbstract
Heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback, referring to slow‐paced breathing (SPB) realized while visualizing a heart rate, HRV, and/or respiratory signal, has become an adjunct treatment for a large range of psychologic and medical conditions. However, the underlying mechanisms explaining the effectiveness of HRV biofeedback still need to be uncovered. This study aimed to disentangle the specific effects of HRV biofeedback from the effects of SPB realized alone. In total, 112 participants took part in the study. The parameters assessed were emotional (valence, arousal, and control) and perceived stress intensity as self‐report variables and the root mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD) as a physiologic variable. A main effect of condition was found for emotional valence only, valence being more positive overall in the SPB‐HRVB condition. A main effect of time was observed for all dependent variables. However, no main effects for the condition or time x condition interaction effects were observed. Results showed that for PRE and POST comparisons (referring, respectively, to before and after SPB), both SPB‐HRVB and SPB‐NoHRVB conditions resulted in a more negative emotional valence, lower emotional arousal, higher emotional control, and higher RMSSD. Future research might investigate psychophysiological differences between SPB‐HRVB and SPB‐NoHRVB across different time periods (e.g., long‐term interventions), and in response to diverse psychophysiological stressors.
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Existing evidence generally supports slow breathing to impact autonomic activity during stressful events, reflected by improved recovery following exposure to stressors.
“Despite this variability, existing evidence generally supports slow breathing to impact autonomic activity during stressful events, reflected by improved recovery following exposure to stressors.”
From Box breathing and prolonged exhalation reduces markers of physiological stress reactivity in response to a virtual trier social stress test (2026) · cites this paper as [15]
Slow breathing has been shown to influence cardiovascular and autonomic markers such as heart rate and HRV, but findings have varied depending on respiratory rate, duration, and timing relative to the stressor.
“While slow breathing has been shown to influence cardiovascular and autonomic markers such as heart rate and HRV, findings have varied depending on respiratory rate, duration, and timing relative to the stressor [15,27].”
From Box breathing and prolonged exhalation reduces markers of physiological stress reactivity in response to a virtual trier social stress test (2026) · cites this paper as [15]
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“While slow breathing has been shown to influence cardiovascular and autonomic markers such as heart rate and HRV, findings have varied depending on respiratory rate, duration, and timing relative to the stressor [15,27].”
- Authors
- Laborde, S., Allen, M. S., Borges, U., Iskra, M., Zammit, N., You, M., Hosang, T., Mosley, E., & Dosseville, F.
- Affiliations
- German Sport University Cologne (DE)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Normandie Université (FR)
- Helmut Schmidt University (DE)
- Southampton Solent University (GB)
- Inserm (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Laborde, Sylvain
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychophysiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2021-10-11
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e13952-e13952
- ISSN
- 0048-5772 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8986
- OpenAlex
- W3207639409
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 7.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychophysiology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University) (acceptedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Solent University Research Portal (Solent University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac Health and Mental Health
- Keywords
- heart rate variability biofeedback, slow-paced breathing, emotional valence, emotional arousal, emotional control, perceived stress, RMSSD, psychophysiological effects
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Arousal, Biofeedback, Psychology, Emotions, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Psychophysiology, Young Adult, Respiratory Rate
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