This superstition posits that each human sigh represents not only sadness or grief but also causes a physical consequence—a drop of blood metaphorically or spiritually leaving the heart. While no specific action was performed by believers to prevent the harm, sighing in excess was discouraged, especially among the melancholic or heartbroken. In many cases, chronic sighing was associated with physical weakening or emotional depletion. The belief served as a cautionary interpretation: sigh too often, and you risk heartache in both a literal and spiritual sense. While not a ritual, this idea contributed to historical understandings of how emotions could damage physical health, especially under the doctrine of the four humors. People believed restraint of sorrow preserved life force—thus, those prone to sighing risked emotional and physical decay.