--- title: What Is Cyclic Sighing? A 5-Minute Stress Reset description: Cyclic sighing is a double inhale and long exhale. A Stanford trial found five minutes a day lifted mood more than meditation. Here's how. image: https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/Cyclic%20Sighing%20Stress%20Reset%20Guide.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/what-is-cyclic-sighing-and-does-it-really-reduce-stress#main-content) [![optYOUmize logo](https://www.optyoumize.com/hs-fs/hubfs/optYOUmize%20logo%20NEW-17c250.png?width=185&height=185&name=optYOUmize%20logo%20NEW-17c250.png "optYOUmize logo")](https://www.optyoumize.com) - [Podcast](https://www.optyoumize.com/podcast) - [Videos](https://www.optyoumize.com/videos) - [Blog](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog) - [About](https://www.optyoumize.com/about) - Guides [![icon-pillarpage2](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/icon-pillarpage2.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/life-architecture) #### [Life Architecture - Life Architecture: How to Design a Life Worth Optimizing - Learn more](https://www.optyoumize.com/life-architecture) [![icon-pillarpage2](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/icon-pillarpage2.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/mind-inner-life) #### [Mind & Inner Life - The Architecture of Your Inner Life: Self-Knowledge, Emotional Intelligence, and the Mind That Makes Everything Possible - Learn more](https://www.optyoumize.com/mind-inner-life) [![icon-pillarpage2](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/icon-pillarpage2.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/body-vitality) #### [Body & Vitality - Your Body Is Not a Productivity Tool: A Foundation-First Guide to Energy, Vitality, and Physical Wellbeing - Learn more](https://www.optyoumize.com/body-vitality) [![icon-pillarpage2](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/icon-pillarpage2.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/purpose-meaningful-work) #### [Purpose & Meaningful Work - What Is Your Work Actually For? 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You Need a Better Relationship With Time. - Learn more](https://www.optyoumize.com/time-rhythm-rest) [![icon-pillarpage2](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/icon-pillarpage2.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/growth-self-becoming) #### [Growth & Self-Becoming - Becoming More Fully Yourself: A Guide to Growth That Is Honest, Patient, and Actually Yours - Learn more](https://www.optyoumize.com/growth-self-becoming) [Subscribe](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/optyoumize/id1566481729) [Review](https://ratethispodcast.com/optyoumize?utm_source=Button%20Embed) [blog](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/tag/blog) # What Is Cyclic Sighing? A 5-Minute Stress Reset Cyclic sighing is a double inhale and long exhale. A Stanford trial found five minutes a day lifted mood more than meditation. Here's how. ![cyclic sighing stress reset guide](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/Cyclic%20Sighing%20Stress%20Reset%20Guide.jpg) # What Is Cyclic Sighing, and Does It Really Reduce Stress? By **[Brett Ingram](https://www.optyoumize.com/about)** | Last updated October 26, 2026 | 5 minute read Cyclic sighing is a breathing exercise built from two inhales through the nose, one regular and one short "top-off" sip, followed by a long, slow exhale. In a randomized trial led by researchers at Stanford, people who did it for five minutes a day for a month reported bigger improvements in positive mood than people who practiced mindfulness meditation for the same time. It's free, it takes five minutes, and you can do it at your desk without anyone noticing. It is not a cure for anxiety, but as a small daily practice it has better evidence behind it than most things on your wellness feed. ## The Simple Answer Yes, it appears to help, modestly. The best evidence is one well-designed trial of healthy adults, so treat it as promising rather than settled. The long exhale is the part that matters most: it's the lever you can pull on purpose to tell your body it can stand down. ## What Is Cyclic Sighing? You already sigh without trying. It's the big breath you take when you open an email you've been dreading. Cyclic sighing is the deliberate version, repeated for a few minutes. Here's the pattern, as **[Stanford Medicine describes it](https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2023/02/cyclic-sighing-can-help-breathe-away-anxiety.html)**: 1. Breathe in through your nose. 2. Before you exhale, take a second, deeper sip of air to fully expand your lungs. 3. Exhale slowly through your mouth until you feel empty. 4. Repeat for about five minutes. # InhaleSecond sipLong, slow exhale One breath, roughly: in, a little more, then all the way out. (Illustrative sketch, not to scale.) ## What Did the Research Actually Find? The study is **[Balban and colleagues, published in *Cell Reports Medicine* in 2023](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9873947)**. Healthy adults were randomly assigned to practice one of three breathwork techniques (cyclic sighing, box breathing, or cyclic hyperventilation with retention) or mindfulness meditation. Everyone practiced five minutes a day for 28 days, and rated their mood daily. The headline: all the breathing practices reduced anxiety and negative mood, but cyclic sighing produced the largest gains in positive mood, and the effect grew over the month. In the paper's statistical model, cyclic sighing was the only one that differed significantly from mindfulness meditation on that measure. Cyclic sighing also lowered participants' resting breathing rate the most, and a slower breathing rate was linked to bigger mood gains. (The paper reports 108 enrolled participants; Stanford's write-up says 111. Either way, it's a modest sample.) | Practice in the trial | What you do | What the study found | | --- | --- | --- | | **Cyclic sighing** | Double inhale, long exhale | Biggest gain in positive mood; biggest drop in breathing rate | | **Box breathing** | Equal-length inhale, hold, exhale, hold | Reduced anxiety and negative mood | | **Cyclic hyperventilation with retention** | Energizing fast breaths, then a breath hold | Reduced anxiety and negative mood | | **Mindfulness meditation** (comparison) | Attention on the present moment | Helpful, but smaller mood gains than cyclic sighing | The table is my plain-language summary of the sources above. ## Why Would a Long Exhale Calm You Down? The researchers' explanation, per Stanford Medicine, is that exhaling activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the "rest and digest" side of your wiring, which slows the heart rate. Breathing is also one of the few body functions you can control on purpose, which gives you a way to interrupt the loop where a racing body feeds a racing mind. Stanford's write-up notes that controlled breathing may work more quickly and directly on your physiology than mindfulness. That last part is a hypothesis, and heart rate didn't actually change in any of the study groups. So hold the mechanism loosely. What you can say with some confidence is that slowing your breathing and lengthening the exhale is associated with feeling better. ## How Do You Make It a Habit? The study used five minutes a day, and so should you, at least to start. These are my practical suggestions, not part of the trial. - **Attach it to something you already do.** Right after you pour your coffee, or when you sit in the car before walking into the house. - **Don't strain.** Gentle and slow beats big and dramatic. If you feel dizzy, stop and breathe normally. - **Use it at the pinch points.** Before a hard conversation, after a tense meeting, or on the Sunday night spiral we cover in **[our post on the Sunday scaries](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/what-are-the-sunday-scaries-and-what-are-they-telling-you)**. - **Pair it with a real transition.** If work follows you home, try it as the doorway between the two. We talk about that problem in **[why you can't switch off after work](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/why-cant-you-switch-off-after-work)**. One honest caveat: if your mind is stuck on a loop, breathing will take the edge off the body but won't settle the story. For that, our piece on **[why you can't stop overthinking](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/why-cant-i-stop-overthinking)** goes deeper. And if anxiety is interfering with your daily life, a breathing exercise is a supplement to professional support, not a replacement. This kind of small, repeatable practice is what we explore in our **[Mind & Inner Life](https://www.optyoumize.com/mind-inner-life)** pillar: you don't have to fix your whole head. You can start by changing how you exhale. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is cyclic sighing? Cyclic sighing is a breathing technique with a double inhale through the nose (a normal breath, then a second short top-off) followed by a slow, full exhale through the mouth. It is typically practiced for about five minutes. ### How long should you do cyclic sighing? The Stanford-led trial used five minutes a day for 28 days. Researchers suggest about five minutes daily; even a few rounds can be a useful in-the-moment pause. ### Is cyclic sighing better than meditation? In that one trial, cyclic sighing produced larger improvements in positive mood than mindfulness meditation. That doesn't make meditation worse. The two are different tools, and plenty of people benefit from both. ### Can breathing exercises replace therapy or medication for anxiety? No. The study was done with healthy adults and shows modest benefits. Breathing exercises can be a helpful daily tool, but if anxiety is persistent or disruptive, talk to a health professional. ## Where This Leaves You You breathe about twenty thousand times a day without noticing. Spending five minutes noticing might be one of the cheaper experiments you run this year. Try it for a week and see what changes. For more small practices that make the inside of your head a friendlier place, explore our **[Mind & Inner Life](https://www.optyoumize.com/mind-inner-life)** pillar. ### Share on your favorite platform...   [![Brett Ingram](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/brett-ingram-head.png)](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/author/brett-ingram) ### [Brett Ingram](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/author/brett-ingram) My name is Brett Ingram — coach, speaker, podcast host, and award-winning entrepreneur. After 20 years building businesses I came to believe the most important self-improvement question isn't "how do I do more?" but rather "what does a genuinely good life actually look like for me?" We'll explore that question across the seven pillars of a well-lived life: mind, body, purpose, relationships, money, time, and growth. 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Here's how. ![cyclic sighing stress reset guide](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/brett-ingram-head.png) ###### Brett Ingram October 26, 2026 [blog](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/tag/blog) ![What Is Ikigai? The Diagram vs. the Real Thing](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/What%20Is%20Ikigai_%20A%20Visual%20Guide.jpg) #### What Is Ikigai? The Diagram vs. the Real Thing Ikigai means a reason to get up in the morning, not a four-circle career formula. Here's what it really means and how to find yours. ![what is ikigai? a visual guide](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/brett-ingram-head.png) ###### Brett Ingram October 26, 2026 [blog](https://www.optyoumize.com/blog/tag/blog) ![Are Love Languages Real? What the Research Says](https://www.optyoumize.com/hubfs/are%20love%20languages%20real.jpg) #### Are Love Languages Real? What the Research Says Researchers found little evidence for the five love languages. 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