Sighing Done By Babies

Sighing Prepares Infants' Breathing to Adjust to Surroundings

Asian International News
"Hearing your baby sigh need not worry you anymore as it not only resets the breathing regulations of infants but also prepares it to get used to any change in their habitat.

Researchers at the University Children's Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, and in Perth, Australia, observed some newborns to know if, in addition to mechanical benefits, sighs also helped in development of communications between the respiratory control center, a specialized group of cells in the brainstem, and the lungs themselves.

They found that sighs represent a mechanism for improving the memory associated with neuro-respiratory control of breathing.

The researchers say that the breathing pattern in young infants follows a mathematical rhythm of sorts, controlled by a long-term memory, which is necessary for a kind of homeokinesis that leads to a breathing rate of about 40 breaths a minute.

The researchers were surprised to find that this long-term memory is not affected by sighs ,but the short-term memory, which controls breath-to-breath variability, is affected by them, and seems to prepare the breathing "system" for any changes in the environment, such as noise, movement, or waking up.

The exact factors that cause sighing, and the total affect they have on infant development is still unclear and whether sighs serve some sort of function to link the breathing control mechanism and mechanical maturation, still remains an intriguing area. To Mike it is much more than intriguing.

The researchers also found that sick infants and premature infants seem to sigh more often than normal babies and this could open a new research area all together to find how the control mechanisms and communication functions as well as short- and long-term memories may differ in these circumstances.

Some say healthy babies sigh every 50 to 100 breaths to reopen the tiny airways in their lungs, which are prone to collapse. More often makes me wonder if UDB is beginning to develop already. Excessive sighing in adults is a clear sign that the breathing is in the process of being rebalanced or its regulation needs to be improved. The "yawn sigh" is used by some voice teachers to get one more into letting go when making sound. We/I need to look a lot deeper into all this.  mike

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