Polizzi, Jessica, Tosto-Mancuso, Jenna, Tabacof, Laura et al. · Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2024 · DOI
This study looked at whether slow, controlled breathing (called resonant breathing) could help people with Long COVID feel better. Ninety-nine people with Long COVID tried a resonant breathing program and reported their symptoms before and after. Most people said they felt better overall, especially in areas like stress control, focus, breathing ability, and sleep quality.
Long COVID patients often experience dysautonomia-related symptoms and are at risk for post-exertional malaise with traditional exercise programs. This study suggests resonant breathing—a low-exertion intervention—may safely improve multiple symptom domains relevant to ME/CFS, offering a potentially gentler rehabilitation option worth exploring further in rigorous trials.
This study does not prove resonant breathing caused the improvements, as there was no control group to account for placebo effect, natural recovery, or concurrent treatments. The retrospective design and self-reported outcomes also cannot establish whether physiological autonomic function actually improved or whether benefits persist long-term. The convenience sample may not represent all Long COVID patients, limiting generalizability.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
Spotted an error in this entry? Report it →