Denne beskriver hvordan sakte pust demper smerteopplevelse. Men i denne studen puster de kun 50% fra normal pustefrekvens. Om man puster 16 pust i minuttet blir dette 8 pust i minuttet. Det er fortsatt litt igjen til 6 pust i minuttet (autonom pust) som gir maksimal effekt på vagus nerven.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22770894

Respiration-Induced Hypoalgesia: Exploration of Potential …

The present study asked 30 healthy participants (M(age) = 21 years, M(education) = 15 years, 80% white non-Hispanic) to breathe at normal, slow (50% normal), and fast (125% normal) rates while constant-intensity, suprathreshold electric stimulations were delivered to the sural nerve to elicit pain and the nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR, a measure of spinal nociception).

Slow breathing reduced pain relative to normal and fast breathing. This respiration-induced hypoalgesia does not appear to be due to gating of spinal nociception or changes in parasympathetic activity.