Hi! Thanks for the question.
Sighing or a sigh is “to exhale audibly in a long deep breath, as in
weariness or relief” as defined at Dictionary.com.
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=sigh&r=67
The On-Line Medical Dictionary meanwhile provides the following as a
definition:
“1. A deep and prolonged audible inspiration or respiration of air, as
when fatigued or grieved; the act of sighing.”I could drive the boat
with my sighs." (Shak)
“2. Figuratively, a manifestation of grief; a lanent.”With their sighs
the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite." (Milton)
Sigh
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?query=sigh&action=Search+OMD
According to the Counseling Center and Medical Clinic of the Abilene
Christian University:
“Sighing and yawning during the day are signs that you are not getting
enough oxygen. A sigh releases a bit of tension and can be practiced
at will as a means of relaxing.”
“Sit or stand up straight. Sigh deeply, letting out a sound of deep
relief as the air rushes out of your lungs. Let new air come in
naturally. Repeat this procedure eight to twelve times whenever you
feel the need for it, and experience the feeling of relaxation.”
“Breathing Techniques”
http://www.acu.edu/campusoffices/cou_med/counseling/help/anxiety.html
In a John Hopkins' research report, it has been found that sighing
could be very good therapy for asthmatics.
“’Understanding the protective effects of sighing may give us
therapeutic options for asthmatics in the future,"’ says Alkis Togias,
M.D., an associate professor of clinical immunology and principal
investigator of the study, which appears in the August issue of the
Journal of Applied Physiology.”
“While breathing deeply did not affect airway openness in asthmatics,
it reduced the adverse effects of methacholine in healthy individuals
by 85 percent. ‘Before this study, we knew that deep breaths helped
open airways after they closed,’ says Togias. ‘Now we know that deep
breaths protect the airways from closing in the first place.’”
“The scientists speculate that deep breaths may stretch lung tissue,
which then causes the release of a protective chemical that keeps
airways open.”
“Hopkins Research May Bring "Sigh" of Relief To Asthmatics”
http://www.healthwho.com/newsUpdate/NU_Aug_048.cfm
Sighing could also be used so as to prevent voice disorders.
“To moisten/clear your vocal tract, sigh or make swallowing motions.
Do not cough and clear your throat by making rough sounds.”
“Instead of clearing your throat in a harsh manner, sigh as an
alternative measure. Sighing will bring up a warm pocket of air that
may soothe your throat.”
“When your throat is dry, swallow saliva or sigh as a stop-gap measure
until you are able to drink water.”
“Nurturing a Healthy Voice”
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/Verena/voice/care.htm
Another study this time on dogs shows this finding on sighing.
“We investigated the effect of sleep and sighing on supratracheal
resistance in unrestrained mongrel dogs breathing through the nose by
comparing within-breath changes in upper airway pressure-flow
relationship in control, sigh, and five postsigh breaths recorded
during wakefulness and during non-rapid-eye-movement and
rapid-eye-movement sleep. A sigh breath was characterized by a high
tidal volume and was typically followed by an apnea of a variable
duration.”
“We conclude that upper airway resistance is essentially unaffected by
sleep state in the mongrel dog and that sighing increases upper airway
resistance regardless of sleep state.”
Word-Medex Director Abstracts
http://www.word-medex.com.au/editing/abstract.htm
Search terms used:
Sighing sigh medical terms dictionary
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
Thanks for visiting us at Google Answers.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
xemion-ga
on
11 Oct 2002 22:22 PDT
I sigh for a variety of reasons. Extreme happiness or pleasure, maybe
when I "give up" on something, just different things. What causes me
to sigh then? I mean, I don't sit there and think "I'm not getting
enough oxygen, I think i'll sign now", you know? I sigh a lots of
different times for extremely different reasons. Can you find
anything about exactly what makes me sigh at those moments? Thanks.
xemion-ga
|
Clarification of Answer by
easterangel-ga
on
11 Oct 2002 23:29 PDT
Hi again and thanks for asking a clarification. The following are
basic explanations on why humans sigh and maybe the ones that will
answer your clarification.
"Sighing is a breathing technique similar to yawning. In the sigh, one
breathes in deeply and exhales all at once in a usually noisy manner.
Sighing, rarely stifled, is a subtle form of stress release. Most
people sigh when confronted with a stressful situation and feel better
for doing so."
"We feel that a sigh will release emotions that are near the surface
of releasing."
Atlanta Rapid Eye
http://www.atlantarapideye.com/tools.htm
"My own observations of the breathing of panic attack patients confirm
what other researchers have discovered: people who have panic attacks
chest-breathe. Their resting breathing rate has speeded up to twenty
to thirty shallow breaths per minute. They also try to compensate by
sighing frequently, sometimes as often as two or three times a minute,
adding significantly to the loss of carbon-dioxide. Sighing is likely
the result of the small air sacs' failure to expand, and the sigh
allows enough air deeper into the lungs so as to keep the sacs and
airways open. When sighing or taking a deep breath, the chest-breather
visibly lifts the entire chest up away from the diaphragm, thereby
creating more space in the chest cage, rather than allowing the
diaphragm to pull the air in."
" Breathe In - Breathe Out"
http://www.eadd.com/~berta/chap3.html
"So why do we sigh..."
"I'm glad you asked. You can consider the lungs as spongy tissue with
millions of little air sacs called alveoli. The alveloi are where gas
exchange takes place in the lungs. They are microscopically small and
collapse easily if your body does not take steps to keep them
inflated. It does this by sighing periodically to stretch the alveloi
to keep them open. If this does not happen, a lung disease called
atelectasis occurs."
"Re: newly diagnosed - central sleep apnea"
http://www.sleepnet.com/forum3/messages/481.html
The following article meanwhile is a more complex explanation on
sighing.
"Sighs and gasps in a dish"
Jack L. Feldman & Paul A. Gray
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:v67gLzCTSDMC:www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf%3Ffile%3D/neuro/journal/v3/n6/full/nn0600_531.html+sighing+breathing&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
I hope this provides a good supplement to my answer. Thanks again.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga
|
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