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. 2021 Jan 13:10:2164956120986129.
doi: 10.1177/2164956120986129. eCollection 2021.

Precision Medicine for Breath-Focused Mind-Body Therapies for Stress and Anxiety: Are We Ready Yet?

Helen Lavretsky  1 , Jack L Feldman PhD  2
Affiliations

Precision Medicine for Breath-Focused Mind-Body Therapies for Stress and Anxiety: Are We Ready Yet?

Helen Lavretsky et al. Glob Adv Health Med. .

Abstract

In this viewpoint, we present an argument for transdisciplinary "precision medicine" approaches that combine studies of basic neurobiology of breathing in animal and human models of stress that can help characterize physiological and neural biomarkers and mechanisms of breathing control and emotion regulation in humans. Such mechanistic research is fundamental for the development of more effective and mechanism-based mind-body therapies. The potential for this research to positively impact public health is high, as breathing techniques are inexpensive, accessible, and cross-culturally accepted, with fewer complications then observed with other standard therapies for stress-related disorders.

Keywords: anxiety; controlled paced breathing; mind-body therapies; precision medicine; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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