Longer Exhales May Make People More Willing to Take Financial Risks

Scientists have found that breathing with a prolonged exhalation may affect a person’s willingness to make risky decisions. The findings were published in the scientific journal Neuron.

The researchers compared two controlled breathing patterns: one with a long exhalation — a two-second inhale followed by an eight-second exhale — and another with a long inhalation — an eight-second inhale followed by a two-second exhale. The aim was to examine whether different breathing rhythms affect people’s willingness to take financial risks.

The experiment involved 41 participants. They were offered 50/50 monetary gambles, with an equal chance of winning or losing a specified amount. Potential gains ranged from €10 to €30, while potential losses ranged from €5 to €15. The difference was intentional, reflecting the well-established tendency for people to react more strongly to losing money than to gaining the same amount.

Each participant made decisions on 120 such gambles while breathing normally and another 120 while using the prolonged-exhalation breathing pattern.

Researchers found that participants were more likely to accept risky gambles when breathing with a prolonged exhalation. The prospect of a potential reward appeared to carry more weight in their decision-making.

Measurements also showed that prolonged exhalation increased cardiac parasympathetic activity*, with greater variation in the intervals between heartbeats. Participants who showed a stronger physiological response also displayed a stronger brain response to potential rewards.

Study findings: the effect of prolonged exhalation on cardiac parasympathetic activity

The findings may also be relevant to gambling and sports betting, where people regularly weigh the possibility of a financial gain against the risk of losing money. The study suggests that such decisions may be influenced not only by odds, stake size and the probability of an outcome, but also by a person’s breathing pattern.

However, the research was not conducted specifically among gamblers or bettors. It therefore cannot yet be concluded that the same effect occurs during real-money betting or casino gambling.

* Cardiac parasympathetic activity refers to the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system on heart rhythm and is generally associated with a state of rest. In this study, stronger parasympathetic activity was linked to a greater brain response to potential rewards and a higher willingness to take risks.