Guides
How these techniques work, what the research does and does not show, and how to pick one. Every physiological claim is referenced, and where the evidence is weak these say so.
- Slow breathing and the vagus nerve — The mechanism is real and reasonably well described. Most of what is written about it is not.
- Breathing for anxiety: what the evidence actually shows — Breathing exercises help, modestly, for some people. That is a less exciting claim than the one usually made for them, and it is the one the trials support.
- CO₂ tolerance, and why breath holds work — The urge to breathe is a carbon dioxide alarm, not an oxygen one. Almost everything about breath-hold training follows from that.
- How to choose a breathing technique — Almost every question about which technique to use resolves into three, and you can answer all three in under a minute.
- Breathing in labour: what helps, stage by stage — Breathing will not take the pain of labour away. It gives each contraction a shape you know, and that turns out to matter more than it sounds.
- Shortness of breath in pregnancy: what's normal, and when to call — Feeling short of breath is one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy, and usually a sign the body is doing exactly what it should. Usually - which is why the warning signs matter.