{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T22:51:21Z","timestamp":1784242281193,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,4]],"date-time":"2022-11-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667520000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background and aim<\/jats:title><jats:p>Limited treatment options have been shown to alter the natural course of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Slow, deep breathing (SDB) is a common pain self-management intervention. This pilot study aimed to explore the impact of SDB on measures of autonomic and anorectal functions as well as patient-reported symptoms in constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Eighty-five IBS-C patients were enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to the experimental group (Group A, <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 42) and the control group (Group B, <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic> = 43). SDB was conducted at six breathing cycles per minute with an inhalation for 4 s and exhalation for 6 s at a ratio of 2:3 and repeated for 30 min during the intervention. All subjects underwent high-resolution anorectal manometry (HRAM) and completed the standardized IBS symptom severity system (IBS-SSS) questionnaire. Meanwhile, changes in stool consistency, weekly frequency of complete spontaneous bowel movements (CSBMs), and weekly frequency of spontaneous bowel movements (SBMs) were recorded. All IBS-C patients received electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings for heart rate variability (HRV) analysis at baseline, weeks 3, 6.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>At baseline, no differences were found between Groups A and B. The IBS-SSS score and its five sub-scores of Group B patients were significantly higher at week 6 than those of Group A patients (all <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). Furthermore, compared with Group B patients, Group A patients had a significantly higher threshold volume for the first sensation (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001), desire to defecate (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.017), and maximum tolerable volume (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.018) at week 6 of the SDB treatment. We also noted significant improvements in stool consistency (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.002), weekly SBM frequencies (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001), and weekly CSBM frequencies (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.018) of Group A patients at week 6 when compared with Group B patients. Finally, the corrected high frequency (HF) of Group A patients was significantly higher than the HF of Group B patients at week 3 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001) and at week 6 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). Likewise, patients in Group A had a significantly higher root mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD) than that of patients in Group B at week 3 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001) and at week 6 (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>We found that a 6-week SDB intervention improved symptoms and altered rectal sensation in IBS-C patients. Moreover, SDB enhanced vagal activity. These findings suggest that the effect of SDB on IBS-C may be due to mechanisms involving autonomic responses.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2022.1034547","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,4]],"date-time":"2022-11-04T13:49:52Z","timestamp":1667569792000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Slow, deep breathing intervention improved symptoms and altered rectal sensitivity in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jie","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chaolan","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yizhou","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiashuang","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenyu","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yue","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2021.619722","article-title":"Optimizing autonomic function analysis via heart rate variability associated with motor activity of the human colon.","volume":"12","author":"Ali","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. 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