What does breathwork have to do with inflammation?
To explain this connection, let’s first start by explaining why the body creates inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s response to a threat. This threat could be a bacteria or a virus, or this perceived threat could be physical, psychological, or emotional stress. Inflammation is your body’s defense tool to protect itself against these perceived threats. So, when your body experiences a threat, the immune system produces pro-inflammatory cytokines (proteins that modulate inflammation). These cytokines usually do their job and then disappear. When we have chronic stress, the pro-inflammatory cytokines become habitual in the body. If the stress continues for a long time, these cytokines may perpetuate over time and the inflammation may continue to grow. This longer term inflammation often isn’t helpful for the body. For many people, longer term levels of inflammation start to cause non-desirable effects in the body such as auto-immune conditions, depression, neurodegenerative diseases, etc. Because our body treats all threats similarly, our inflammation levels are connected to our longer-term stress levels and emotional states.
Your breath is very much connected to your emotional state. Your unconscious breathing pattern is determined by your emotional state. And yet, we know that you can influence your emotional state by practicing intentional breathing. Your breath is a bridge between your conscious mind and your body through your nervous system. Putting these relationships to emotional states together, many have begun to explore how our breathing and intentional breathwork can influence inflammation. Through intentional breathing to alter your physiological state, pilot studies have shown that acute inflammation is reduced. The research is limited to small sample sizes and hasn’t evaluated chronic or long-term effects. Yet the research is very encouraging that with some intentional breathing and intention we can help our body let go of this inflammation cycle, where inflammation may not be the best approach in dealing with certain stressors. Many kinds of breathwork may be beneficial. The two with the most research are slow breathing (typically 5 breaths per minute) and the WIM HOF method (deliberate hyperventilation followed by extended breath holds).
The resonance breathing pattern is very helpful in creating a sense of relaxation and slowing the heart rate down and reducing blood pressure. Below are a few papers highlighting the impact of this slower paced breathing.
- 2021 Study looking at slow paced breathing’s impact on the nervous system and sense of wellbeing with athletes. This study also references many other studies if you want to dig deeper.
- 2021 Study looking at deep breathing and psychological and physiological states of relaxation.
- A 2015 Study looking at breathing & movement on inflammatory biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease.
- This 2016 study looks at a slower paced breathing yoga pattern with a long inhale hold (2 in:8 hold:4 out :0 pause) and evaluated inflammatory markers in the saliva.
The WIM HOF method creates a deliberate stressor in the body through deliberate hyperventilation and then a relaxation response afterwards. Below is a video and a few papers highlighting the impact of the WIM HOF method.
- Video about the WIM HOF Method and Inflammation from the 2014 study
- The WIM HOF method is typically done with cold water exposure. There was a 2022 study looking at the breathing and the cold-water training separately. It appears that the breathwork is the key modulator and the cold-water training appears to magnify the impact of the breathing influenced change.
- In 2019, there was a pilot study with the WIM HOF method looking at axial spondyloarthritis.
Personally I am encouraged by the research and personal experiences I have seen or heard where folks are better able to manage their medical conditions through using their own body and tools. I look forward to watching overtime, as we learn more and discover how our cognitive mind and intentional habits can influence our more primal body and physiology.
