Why do we sigh?

Why do we sigh? This act sometimes has something romantic, as if in that exhalation we let go of our sadness, the regret of longing or the longing of falling in love. Sighing is for many another language of love and is even often defined poetically as the complaint of the soul. However, is there any reality in all this?

The truth is that very little. Despite this, there is one aspect that we must be very clear about: sighing is a decisive physiological process. Doing so is decisive for lung health, and also for the emotional aspect. What’s more, the brain needs it to the point that Many neurologists define this mechanism as the “mental reset” button.

What is sighing?

Although it may seem obvious and instinctive, it never hurts to give a definition to what we are talking about. Therefore, we will define ‘sigh’ as ​​“a strong, prolonged inhalation followed by an exhalation, sometimes accompanied by a vocalization such as a moan.”

Take a moment to answer these questions: how many times a day do you sigh? Are you one of those who sighs every now and then? Beyond seeming like the classic questions that every child would ask, it is worth noting that Something as everyday as sighing is key to the overall health of many living beings..

Because not only people do it, if we look closely at our pets, we will see how our dogs or cats do it too. Even more, if we animals did not carry out these periodic inhalations throughout the day, we would die.

Sighs, a vital reflection

Sigh to live. It seems like a phrase taken from an advertising spot, but it is not. Now we understand this mechanism much more, to the point that in a work published in the journal Nature defines it as a vital reflection. It has been discovered that We have two small groups of nerve cells in the brain stem that orchestrate this process.

The main task of this set of cells is to automatically take care of breathing, sleep and heart rate. We now know that it also activates the sigh mechanism. And for what purpose? If we wonder why we sigh The answer is simple: to prevent the alveoli from collapsing.

There are times when these small sacs that make up the lungs and that control the exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide become stuck. What the sigh does is inflate the collapsed alveoli with more air than normal so that their operation is reactivated. If we did not do this, we would begin to suffer lung failure.

The author of this research, Dr. Jack Feldman, professor of neurobiology at the Los Angeles University School of Medicine, tells us something equally interesting. The brain activates different types of respirations thanks to neuropeptideswho mediate normal breathing, yawning, coughing, laughing or crying.

Sighs are also regulated by just over 200 neurons.. A very small group of nerve cells capable of fulfilling a vital mission for our survival.

When you are stressed you sigh more

Until not long ago, sighs seemed to us like simple long, deep breaths associated with sadness and emotional discomfort. Well, now we know that its role is to fill the alveoli with air. However, is that its only function? The truth is that they fulfill more tasks for us:

Sighs increase in frequency when we suffer from stress and even certain psychiatric conditions: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis… Any state in which our emotional state is of great intensity, sighs will appear. They do it to release tension, to let go of the anxiety to which the mind and body are subjected. On the other hand, studies such as those carried out at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, tell us something else. To the question of why we sigh we must add another answer: to restore balance in the brain.. It’s like resetting the mind, like bringing oxygen inside to banish negativity.

This explains why we can’t help but heave long sighs when we are gripped by frustration, disappointment, sadness, nostalgia, and even boredom. A sigh not only stretches the lung alveoli, filling them with air; By doing so, a feeling of mental relief is also generated.we oxygenate ourselves, we obtain calm and our entire body recovers the precious homeostasis.

We are, therefore, facing a mechanism that the brain activates automatically without us realizing it. However, we also have the ability to execute them, to benefit from that contribution of extra air that renews and reactivates us inside. In fact, something as simple as Practicing deep breathing combined with long exhalations generates the same calming and relaxing effect. Let’s remember: you have to sigh more to live better.

You might be interested…