Can your breath make you a better decision maker?
NCT ID NCT07505641
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at whether a specific slow breathing technique (with longer exhales) can change how people make decisions when they are stressed. Researchers will measure brain activity, heart rate, and stress hormones in 50 healthy adults. The goal is to understand the connection between breathing, stress, and choices, not to treat any disease.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
About 50 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
-
Apr 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
-
Apr 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 to 40 years
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * 18- to 40-year-old men and women * Consent to participate * Fluent in German * Right-handed * Physically and mentally healthy without regular medication * Body-mass index of 18-25 kg/m2 * Alcohol consumption of less than 15 glasses a week (equivalent to one glass of wine/beer, a glass of higher-percentage alcohol counts as two glasses of beer) * No illegal drug consumption in the week previous to the experiment * No smoking * No competitive athletes * Normal day-night rhythm (no shift work) * Normal vision without required vision correction (i.e., glasses, contact lenses; ability to clearly read texts at a distance of up to 50 cm without vision aids) Exclusion Criteria: * Former or current illnesses of: * Brain or mind (including anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, alcohol, drugs or drug dependence, neurological disorders other than occasional headache, psychiatric or neurological abnormalities) * Heart or blood circulation * Lung Diseases * Other serious past or present medical conditions (for example, metabolic syndrome, diabetes) * Current medication and medication over a period of two weeks prior to the examination * Other serious health problems or present strong mental or physical stress * Current infection or excessive stress * Missing consent to receive information about incidental findings from the MRI * Tendency to claustrophobia, dizziness, or panic attacks * Wearing a non-removable pacemaker, defibrillator, hearing aid, drug pump, neurostimulator or implant with solenoid valve (e.g., artificial bowel outlet) * Metal parts or implants inside the body, for example, due to surgery or injury with a metallic foreign object (e.g., hip replacements, artificial joints, heart valves, vessel occlusions or dilatations, surgical clips, bone screws or plates, coil, shunts, catheters, electrodes, coils, radiation sources, shrapnel, projectiles, stents) * Having non-removable metal parts or metal-containing devices on or in the body * Having ferromagnetic metal parts or implants inside the body (e.g., hip replacements, artificial joints, heart valves, vessel occlusions or dilatations, surgical clips, bone screws or plates, coils, shunts, catheters, electrodes, coils, radiation sources, shrapnel, projectiles, stents) * Wearing magnetically fixed implants (e.g. amalgam fillings, glass eye) * Professionally or privately being involved in the processing of ferromagnetic metals * Large tattoos (whole limbs) * Pregnancy * Wearing an intra-uterine device * Having tinnitus * Extensive lung function (e.g. apnoe diver, singer, professional musician with lung-involving instruments) * Previous participation in the ProlEx-MRI study (the precursor to the current study)
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Breathing techniques are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can a web platform teach students to make better dementia care decisions?
- Can warning labels on alcohol make people rethink their drinking?
- Can AI outthink cancer experts? a landmark trial pits five AIs against tumor boards
- Heart rate data may sharpen ICU nurses' decision-making
- Can warning labels on cannabis products change how consumers think about risk?
- Supplements may boost footballers' mental endurance and decision-making