Cardiac coherence is a personal practice of managing stress and emotions that has many benefits for physical, mental and emotional health. Cardiac coherence allows you to learn to control your breathing in order to regulate your stress and anxiety. This simple technique would also reduce depression and blood pressure.

This is a particular state of cardiac variability (the heart’s ability to speed up or slow down in order to adapt to its environment) and a genuine physiological stress control technique. It can be obtained in several ways but cardiac resonance (cardiac coherence obtained by breathing and the rule of 365) is the fastest and the simplest: 3 times a day, 6 breaths per minute and for 5 minutes.

With nearly 40 neurons and a complex and dense network of neurotransmitters, the heart communicates directly with the brain. By acting on our heart rate through breathing exercises, we are able to send positive messages to the brain.

How does it work?

The body is governed by two major nervous systems, the somatic system (voluntary acts) and the autonomic system (automatic regulation). The heart actively participates in the autonomic nervous system, of which it occupies an essential function allowing adaptation to environmental changes. Heart variability refers to the variability in heart rate (pulse) or the heart’s ability to speed up and slow down. The importance of this is measured by its amplitude. The higher the amplitude, the more important the state of equilibrium of 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 but also the acceleration of the heart and respiratory rate as well as the dilation of the pupils or the inhibition of digestion.
• The parasympathetic person promotes recovery, relaxation, rest, repair …

Health being the balance between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. But inspiration stimulates the sympathetic when the expiration stimulates the parasympathetic.

As breathing is controlled by the autonomic nervous system AND by the somatic nervous system, it is therefore possible to control the autonomic nervous system by this route.

Breathing that balances: Five seconds on inspiration, five seconds on expiration, or six breaths per minute.

When you breathe six times a minute you are almost certain to achieve this balanced state of cardiac coherence. It is not the only method but it is the simplest because it is about a respiratory frequency common to all, a physiological constant specific to the human being. With this frequency of 6 breaths per minute we arrive at a respiratory rate of 0,1 Hertz which seems to be a resonant frequency of many biorhythms (the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems also have this frequency).

Practicing cardiac coherence has many benefits, both short term and long term.

Immediate effects

• Increased amplitude of heart variability
• Rounding and regularity of the curve
• appeasement

Effects over an average of four hours:

• Decrease in cortisol, the main defense hormone secreted during stress.
• Increase in DHEA, a youth hormone that slows down aging.
• Increase in salivary IgA which is involved in immune defense.
• Increase in oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that promotes attachment (also called the “love hormone”).
• Increase in atrial natriuretic factor, a hormone secreted by the heart and which acts on arterial hypertension.
• Increase in alpha waves which promote memory, learning but also communication and coordination.
• Favorable action on many neurotransmitters (hormones that convey emotions) including dopamine (pleasure) and serotonin (prevention of depression and anxiety).

Long-term effects (after about ten days):

• Decreased arterial hypertension
• Decreased cardiovascular risk
• Sugar level regulation
• Reduction of abdominal circumference
• Better recovery
• Improved concentration and memorization
• Decrease in attention disorders and hyperactivity
• Better pain tolerance
• Improvement of asthmatic disease
• Improvement of inflammatory diseases

3 times a day, 6 breaths per minute and 5 minutes lasting to get results because these three figures have a physiological reason and are based on many studies. This is the famous 365.

3 times a day because the beneficial effects of the practice only persist for a few hours (3 to 6 hours). An average duration of 4 hours between each practice is therefore recommended.

The main effect of cardiac coherence is the balancing and modulation of the stress hormone cortisol. The most important session being that of getting up when the secretion of cortisol is the most important. Perform the second session four hours later to alleviate the events that have occurred in the morning and prepare for the meal and digestion. The third session, in the middle or end of the afternoon is as important as that of the morning because it prepares for the evening.

6 breaths per minute because it is the respiration at the resonant frequency of the heart / lung systems common to humans and which allows an optimal increase in the amplitude of cardiac variability.

5 seconds on inspiration and 5 seconds on expiration adopting an abdominal inspiration through the nose and exhaling through the mouth as if you were blowing through a straw.

Posture: sitting position, back straight is recommended because cardiac coherence does not work well when lying down for anatomical and physiological reasons.

Learning and respiratory guides:

Practicing cardiac coherence requires regular and progressive learning, it is important to find the guides to “enter cardiac coherence”. The idea is to take control of 30 breaths for 5 minutes (one breath = one inhale and one exhale).

Guide to counting seconds

Watch with second hand or electronics, computer

Timer or electronic alarm on 5 minutes, count the breaths, I breathe in slowly I count 1, I breathe out slowly I count 2…. until the alarm sounds. Obtain 30 breaths in 5 minutes.

Draw waves, timer at 5 minutes, on a sheet of paper, draw the breath, the chest rises on inspiration, the pencil rises, the chest lowers on the expiration, the pencil goes down. Possibility to close your eyes. Count the number of waves. Objective at 30 waves.

Guide to counting nothing (online applications, on smartphones)

Follow with your eyes an object moving up and down, synchronizing breathing with the movement of that object for 5 minutes.

Cardiac Coherence Software

Same principle but with visual feedback which guarantees the monitoring of the state of cardiac coherence

If the recent development of neuroscience takes the heart out of its simple pump function and gradually puts it back at the center of the autonomic nervous system, Chinese medicine was already interested in heart rate variability and pulse as a health informant in the Huangdi Nei Jing, the oldest known medical treatise (XXVIII century BC).

The Italian physician Antonio Marie Valsalva (1666 – 1723) later noticed that the heart synchronized with respiration by speeding up on inspiration and slowing down on expiration.

In the 0,10th century Siegmund Mayer, Ewald Hering and Ludwig Traube discovered that rhythmic oscillations of arterial pressure were observed at certain respiratory frequencies close to 6 Hz in humans. We will come back to this point later, but these are the beginnings of XNUMX breaths per minute to reach this frequency common to many bio-rhythms… This work will then be developed by the Russian doctor Evgeny Vaschillo.

Born in the United States about fifteen years ago, the concept of cardiac coherence stems from medical research in neuroscience and neuro-cardiology and its development.

Its impact on stress management has been studied and highlighted by the HeartMath Institute and was introduced in France by doctors David Servan Schreiber and David O’Hare.

Cardiac coherence is a simple, free tool, with no contraindication and available to everyone. It is your physical and mental health passport to sustainable well-being. It must, like brushing teeth, be part of an overall hygiene of life and a certain routine because its effectiveness depends on its regularity.

Breathing in a constant way brings to live the present moment. Everyone finds five minutes three times a day (talk to smokers). Toilets, public transport, traffic jams or waiting rooms can even become allies …

If the seated practice is recommended, you can also practice standing, or even walking, as soon as you feel comfortable with this particular breath. The few meters separating us from our boss’s office, on a golf course or from a performance in public can then be the occasion to enter into cardiac coherence and to mobilize all his capacities.