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Feel Like You’re Sighing All the Time? Here’s Why a Psychologist Says That Might Be Happening

As far as nonverbal communication goes, sighing can tell you a lot about how someone is feeling. But, if you sigh a lot without really meaning to—you probably know how weird it can get to have to explain that you're not actually dissatisfied at that moment, and you're definitely not trying to send a passive-aggressive message with a weighted, audible exhale.

If you do feel like you let out sighs more than those around you, you're not imagining it. Some people are just more prone to it—often for reasons you wouldn't guess.

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Featured

 Deep sighs are not only satisfying—they’re healthy

There’s something to be said about a good sigh. Sometimes that deep exhale doesn’t just feel psychologically satisfying, but physically restorative. According to a study published in the journal Science Advances, new evidence indicates sighing truly is a way to help reset your body—specifically, the fluid that coats your lungs.

 The Positive Power of a Good Sigh

Research shows that intentional sighing can help the body and mind recalibrate, reducing stress and increasing feelings of control

 Why We Sigh

Sighing is like a reset button for the lungs and emotions. But there’s such a thing as too much sighing.

Articles of Interest

A sigh's not just a sigh - it's a fundamental life-sustaining reflex

Research reveals that sighing is more than a sign of depression or despair: it’s a reflex that happens several times an hour and helps preserve lung function

Go ahead and sigh. It’s good for you

Sighs — those long, exhales of breath often accompanied with a bit of a whimper — have long been seen as a sigh of melancholy, frustration or even despair, leading us to ask the sighing person, “What’s wrong?”

Science Says Sighing Is Involuntary Self Care—Not Your Inner Angsty Teen Being Rude

I've taken to sighing approximately, oh, 22,000 times a morning, and I'm worried that my co-workers thing I'm an uptight, bored, and rude. The meaning of sighing is, after all, murky at best and the connotations of it are mostly negative.

Scientists Pinpoint Brain Chemical Linked to the Sigh

Study finds neurons connected to sighing; breathing pattern thought a vital process that maintains overall health.

Sorry, Bogie, A Sigh Is Not Just A Sigh

The sighs we notice usually accompany emotions like relief or discontent. But our brains are programmed to make us heave an unconscious sigh every five minutes or so — no matter how we feel.

The Integrative Role of the Sigh in Psychology, Physiology, Pathology, and Neurobiology

“Sighs, tears, grief, distress” expresses Johann Sebastian Bach in a musical example for the relationship between sighs and deep emotions. This review explores the neurobiological basis of the sigh and its relationship with psychology, physiology, and pathology.

This Is Why We Sigh

Tiredness, sadness, and relief all feel very different, and yet sighing somehow seems to complement each emotional state. But why do we do it? There have been lots of theories, but no one is quite sure.

Why Deep Breathing May Keep Us Calm

For generations, mothers have encouraged children to take long, slow breaths to fight anxiety. A long tradition of meditation likewise uses controlled breathing to induce tranquillity. Now scientists at Stanford University may have uncovered for the first time why taking deep breaths can be so calming.