Resonant breathing improves self-reported symptoms and wellbeing in people with Long COVID.
Jessica Polizzi, Jenna Tosto-Mancuso, Laura Tabacof and 2 others
PMID 39071772WHAT IT FOUND
People with Long COVID who completed at least four weeks of online resonant breathing reported improvements in stress control, focus, breathing, wellness, and sleep.
Because the study had no control group and relied on self-reported outcomes, these changes cannot be separated from natural recovery or other treatments.
Key findings
01Nearly all self-reported symptom and wellbeing measures improved at follow-up, with the largest percentage improvements in ability to control stress, ability to focus, ability to breathe, sense of wellness, and sleep quality.
0292% of participants reported some level of improvement on the Patient Global Impression of Change Scale.
03Improvement in ability to control stress was positively correlated with how many times per week the breathing program was used.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
No control group or comparator, so improvements cannot be separated from natural recovery or the placebo effect. Outcomes were entirely self-reported; no objective measures of autonomic function were taken. The study did not account for other therapies participants might have been using concurrently. Adherence data was self-reported and may be inaccurate. The sample was small (n=99) and heavily female (78%), limiting generalisability. Duration of Long COVID symptoms prior to starting the program was not recorded.
Declared interests
The authors declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that resonant breathing treats Long COVID. Without a control group, the reported improvements may reflect natural fluctuation, regression to the mean, or other concurrent treatments, and the study did not measure objective physiological changes.