ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1605862
Slow-paced breathing reduces anxiety and enhances midfrontal alpha asymmetry, buffering responses to aversive visual stimuli
Provisionally accepted- 1School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Tobetsu-cho, Japan
- 2Graduate school of rehabilitation science, Health sciences university of Hokkaido, Tobetsu-cho, Japan
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Slow-paced breathing (SB) reduces anxiety, but its effects on frontal alpha asymmetry (also termed relative left frontal activity; rLFA) and the persistence of these effects after aversive stimuli remain unclear. This study investigated whether SB reduces state anxiety and enhances rLFA, and whether these effects persist immediately after exposure to aversive images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) following the breathing task. Seventeen healthy participants (7 females) completed sessions of SB (4 s inhalation, 6 s exhalation) and resting breathing (RB). Electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate variability (HRV), respiratory parameters, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S) scores were measured at baseline (pre-task), post-task, and post-stimuli. HRV was evaluated by the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF ratio). Respiratory measurements included respiratory rate, coefficient of variation of respiratory intervals (CVRR), and end-tidal CO₂ (ETCO₂). rLFA, measured by alpha wave activity, was calculated at midfrontal (F4–F3) and lateral frontal (F8–F7) EEG sites. Results showed that STAI-S scores in SB condition were significantly lower than in RB condition, both post-task (p < .001, Cohen's d = -1.46) and post-stimuli (p < .001, Cohen's d = -1.25). Midfrontal rLFA (F4-F3) also significantly increased with SB post-task (p = .004, Cohen's d = 1.03) and post-stimuli (p = .019, Cohen's d = 0.84), whereas lateral frontal rLFA (F8-F7) showed no significant changes. A significant interaction between intervention and time was observed for RMSSD (p = .002, η2G = 0.18). Post-task RMSSD was significantly lower in SB condition compared to RB condition (p < .001) , but this difference was absent post-stimuli. These findings suggested that SB effectively reduces state anxiety and enhances rLFA, with these effects persisting immediately after exposure to visual stressors.
Keywords: slow-paced breathing, Anxiety, Frontal alpha asymmetry, Aversive visual stimuli, Autonomic nervous system activity
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Iwabe, Miyakawa, Kodama and Yoshida. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tatsuya Iwabe, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Tobetsu-cho, Japan
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