Acute effects of resonance frequency breathing on cardiovascular regulation

Abstract

Acute slow breathing may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular regulation by affecting hemodynamics and the autonomic nervous system. Whether breathing at the resonance frequency (RF), a breathing rate that maximizes heart rate oscillations, induces differential effects to that of slow breathing is unknown. We compared the acute effects of breathing at either RF and RF + 1 breaths per minute on muscle sympathetic nervous activity (MSNA) and baroreflex function. Ten healthy men underwent MSNA, blood pressure (BP), and heart rate (HR) recordings while breathing for 10 min at their spontaneous breathing (SB) rate followed by 10 min at both RF and RF + 1 randomly assigned and separated by a 10-min recovery. Breathing at either RF or RF + 1 induced similar changes in HR and HR variability, with increased low frequency and decreased high frequency oscillations (p