Cardiac coherence, what is it?
Heart Coherence is a personal practice of stress and emotion management that has many benefits for physical, mental and emotional health.
Heart Coherence allows you to learn to control your breathing to regulate your stress and anxiety.
This simple technique would also reduce depression and blood pressure.
It is a particular state of heart variability (the ability of the heart to speed up or slow down to adapt to its environment) of a real physiological technique to control stress.
It can be obtained in several ways, but cardiac resonance (cardiac coherence obtained through breathing and the 365 rule) is the fastest and easiest: 3 times a day, 6 breaths per minute for 5 minutes.
With almost 40,000 neurons and a complex and dense network of neurotransmitters, the heart communicates directly with the brain.
By influencing our heart rate through breathing exercises, we can send positive messages to the brain.
How does it work ?
The body is controlled by two main nervous systems, the somatic system (voluntary actions) and the autonomic system (automatic regulation).
The heart actively participates in the autonomic nervous system, of which it plays an essential role in adapting to environmental changes.
Cardiac variability refers to the variability of the heart rate (pulse) or the ability of the heart to speed up and slow down.
Its importance is measured by its amplitude. The greater the amplitude, the greater the state of balanced health.
The autonomic nervous system is divided into two subsystems: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic.
The sympathetic triggers all the actions necessary for flight or combat, as well as accelerating the heart and breathing rate, dilating the pupils and inhibiting digestion.
The parasympathetic promotes recovery, relaxation, rest, repair...
Health is the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Inspiration stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, while exhalation stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.
Since breathing is controlled by the autonomic nervous system and the somatic nervous system, it is possible to control the autonomic nervous system in this way.
Breathing in balance: five seconds to inhale, five seconds to exhale, or six breaths per minute.
If we breathe six times a minute, it is almost certain that we will reach this steady state of cardiac coherence.
It is not the only method, but it is the simplest, because it is a common breathing rate, a physiological constant that is characteristic of the human being.
With this frequency of 6 breaths per minute, we reach a respiratory frequency of 0.1 Hertz, which seems to be a resonance frequency of many biorhythms (the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems also have this frequency).
The benefits of cardiac coherence
The practice of cardiac coherence has many benefits, both short term and long term.
Immediate effects
- Increase in amplitude of heart rate variability
- Curve rounding and regularity
- Calming
Effects over an average of four hours
- Decrease in cortisol, the main defence hormone released during stress.
- Increase in DHEA, a rejuvenating hormone that slows down ageing.
- Increase in salivary IgA, which is involved in immune defence.
- Increase in oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that promotes bonding (also known as the "love hormone").
- Increase in atrial natriuretic factor, a hormone secreted by the heart that acts on high blood pressure.
- Increase in alpha waves, which promote memory, learning, communication and coordination.
- Favourable effect on many neurotransmitters (hormones that transmit emotions), including dopamine (pleasure) and serotonin (prevention of depression and anxiety).
Long-term effects (after about ten days):
- Reduced high blood pressure
- Reduced cardiovascular risk
- Regulation of sugar levels
- Reduction in abdominal size
- Improved recovery
- Improved concentration and memory
- Reduction in attention deficit and hyperactivity
- Improved pain tolerance
- Improvement in asthma
- Improvement in inflammatory diseases
Cardiac Coherence in practice
3 times a day, 6 breaths per minute for 5 minutes to get results, because these three numbers have a physiological reason and have been proven in many studies. They are the famous 365.
3 times a day because the beneficial effects of the practice only last for a few hours (3 to 6 hours).
An average of 4 hours between sessions is therefore recommended.
The main effect of Cardiac Coherence is to balance and modulate cortisol, the stress hormone.
The most important session is at the time of getting up, when cortisol secretion is at its peak.
The second session is four hours later, to relieve the morning's events and prepare for eating and digestion.
The third session, in the middle or late afternoon, is just as important as the morning session as it prepares you for the evening.
6 breaths per minute, because you are breathing at the resonance frequency of the cardiopulmonary system common to the human species, which allows the amplitude of cardiac variability to increase optimally.
5 seconds of inhalation and 5 seconds of exhalation, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, as if blowing through a straw.
Posture: it is advisable to sit with a straight back, as cardiac coherence does not work well in a lying position for anatomical and physiological reasons.
Learning and Breathing Guides
The practice of Cardiac Coherence requires regular and progressive learning, it is important to find the guides to "enter into Cardiac Coherence".
The idea is to control 30 breaths for 5 minutes (one breath = one inhalation and one exhalation).
Guide to counting seconds
Online applications, on smartphones
Follow an object moving up and down with your eyes and synchronise your breathing with the movement of the object for 5 minutes.
Heart Coherence Software
Same principle, but with visual feedback to monitor heart coherence state