Mindful Breathing
People mindfully breathe for roughly 5 minutes a day for a week, there is also an audio file provided which gives a short meditation guide.
Reasoning
Mindfulness gives us distance from our thoughts and feelings, which can help us tolerate and work through unpleasant feelings rather than becoming overwhelmed by them. Mindful breathing in particular is helpful because it gives us an anchor—our breath—on which we can focus when we find ourselves carried away by a stressful thought. Mindful breathing can also help us stay “present” in the moment, rather than being distracted by regrets in the past or worries about the future.
Procedure
Primary Citation & Study Summary:
Arch, J. J., & Craske, M. G. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness: Emotion regulation following a focused breathing induction. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(12), 1849-1858.
Americans who completed a 15-minute focused breathing exercise (similar to Mindful Breathing) reported less negative emotion in response to negative images, compared with people who didn’t complete the exercise. These results suggest that focused breathing helped improve people’s ability to regulate their emotions.
More Evidence
Adelian, H., Sedigheh, K. S., Miri, S., & Farokhzadian, J. (2021). The effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on resilience of vulnerable women at drop-in centers in the southeast of Iran. BMC Women's Health, 21, 1–10.
Bowen, S., Bergman, A. L., & Witkiewitz, K. (2015). Engagement in Buddhist meditation practices among non-Buddhists: Associations with religious identity and practice. Mindfulness, 6(6), 1456–1461.