The respiratory cycle, or cardiorespiratory biofeedback, allows direct treatment and verification of the ability to regulate the autonomic nervous system.

The procedure is as follows:

In practice, the ANS Analysis is performed in the patient. If the measurement shows good regulation with an active parasympathetic nervous system, no further measurement is necessary.

However, if the measurement indicates a predominate sympathetic nervous system, the question is how strongly the sympathicotonia has already manifested itself in the system.

In order to answer this question, a second measurement is carried out under pulsed breathing immediately after the first measurement. ANS Analysis Professional shows the patient when and how long to inhale and exhale.

As described in the guidelines, the ideal cycle is to breathe in for 4 seconds and breathe out for 6 seconds. For COPD and asthma patients, however, there are also more respiratory cycles which are somewhat faster.

The pulsed breathing should stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, increase the variability and slow the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

If the second measurement shows this improvement, it means that the control and regulation is not yet permanently disrupted.

Based on the results of the measurement, the patients can see the influence of respiratory therapy on their ability to regulate.

The likelihood that the patient will continue to perform a conscious breathing exercise (e.g. with Vagusvit) is greatly increased by the visualization.

If the breathing shows no or little improvement in the autonomic regulation, it can be assumed that the regulation is permanently disrupted or that the patient is already in a regulation blockage (see picture below).

Breathing as the sole therapy is not useful in this case.