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There are two clusters of tiny neurons in our brains that are mainly responsible for the sighs that we emit periodically, say researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

It is the new information that is the source of deep insight into the process of brain cells creating breathing rhythm, according to researchers.

"Sighing appears to be regulated by the fewest number of neurons we have seen linked to a fundamental human behavior," said study researcher Jack Feldman, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, in a news release. "One of the holy grails in neuroscience is figuring out how the brain controls behavior. Our finding gives us insights into mechanisms that may underlie much more complex behaviors."

Sighing happens every five minutes in the average individual, or 12 times in an hour, according to scientists.

After screening for more than 19,000 gene-expression patterns in the animals' brain cells, scientists discovered 200 neurons in the brain stem creating and releasing one of two neuropeptides that enable brain cells to communicate, although scientists are not able to identify the cells they communicated with or even the reason for it.

While in the beginning, the scientists knew that a family of peptides was found in humans, and influenced human breathing, including sighing, they were not aware of the genes or neurons that controlled them.

By blocking one of the peptides, the scientists could cut their sighing rate by half. When they silenced both peptides, they stopped the ability of the mice to sigh fully. When they activated its breathing muscles, they could activate the second set of 200 neurons, which enhanced the rate of sighing.

"These molecular pathways are critical regulators of sighing, and define the core of a sigh-control circuit," Krasnow said. "It may now be possible to find drugs that target these pathways to control sighing."

Sighing benefits those who cannot breathe deeply on their own, according to Health Day. It is also especially useful for individuals who suffer from an anxiety disorder or related mental health conditions.

"There is certainly a component of sighing that relates to an emotional state. When you are stressed, for example, you sigh more," Feldman said. "It may be that neurons in the brain areas that process emotion are triggering the release of the [sigh-triggering chemicals] -- but we don't know that."

The study is published in the journal Nature.