EasyBreezyMind
1 peer-reviewed source, DOI-verifiedUpdated Oct 1, 2026How we verify
Breathwork has exploded in popularity. This 2023 meta-analysis asked a simple question: across randomized controlled trials, do people who practise breathwork report less stress than people who don’t?
| Study type | Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials |
|---|---|
| Who took part | 785 adults across 12 trials (stress outcome); 20 trials for anxiety, 18 for depressive symptoms |
| What was compared | Breathwork interventions vs. non-breathwork control conditions |
| Published | Scientific Reports, 2023 |
| Free to read | Full text on PubMed Central |
| Licence | Open access, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) |
What the researchers did
The team searched seven databases up to February 2022, starting from 1,325 results. They kept randomized trials that compared deliberate breath-control practices with control conditions, and pooled the results statistically.
What they found
- Breathwork was linked to lower self-reported stress than control conditions, with a small-to-medium effect size (g = −0.35).
- Similar effects appeared for anxiety (g = −0.32) and depressive symptoms (g = −0.40).
What this doesn’t prove
- Most included studies had a moderate risk of bias.
- Results varied between studies (moderate heterogeneity).
- The authors explicitly warn against a “miscalibration between hype and evidence”: breathwork may help, but it isn’t a miracle cure.
How to use this
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Breathwork was associated with lower self-reported stress than control conditions (small-to-medium effect, g = −0.35), with similar effects on anxiety and depressive symptoms. The authors urge caution because most studies had moderate risk of bias.
Summary written by EasyBreezyMind in our own words. Original article: Fincham GW, Strauss C, Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K (2023). Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-27247-y. © The authors. Published open access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This summary is educational and is not endorsed by the authors.