What is the correct way to do deep breathing?

Slowly, through the nose, into the belly, with the exhale longer than the inhale. Sit or lie down, put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach, and breathe so the lower hand moves and the upper one barely does. In for four, pause for two, out for six, at about five breaths a minute. The most common mistake is treating deep as big: a huge chest inhale is faster, higher and more anxious than a normal breath, which is the opposite of what you want.

What does deep breathing do?

Slow diaphragmatic breathing lowers heart rate and blood pressure while you do it, and daily practice lowers resting blood pressure, stress and anxiety over weeks. The mechanism is the vagus nerve: every slow exhale sends a signal that slows the heart and shifts the nervous system out of fight-or-flight. At around six breaths a minute the effect is strongest, and heart rhythm and breathing fall into step.

Is it better to inhale longer or exhale longer?

Exhale longer, if calm is the goal. The heart slows on the out-breath, so a long exhale presses the brake for longer each cycle. Equal in and out, as in coherent breathing, is balanced and good for daily practice. A longer inhale than exhale is activating and belongs in the morning, not at bedtime.

How long should you deep breathe?

Five minutes a day is the dose in most of the trials that found lower blood pressure and anxiety, and one or two minutes is enough to settle a stressful moment. Longer sessions are fine but add little; daily matters more than long.

Can you overdo deep breathing?

Yes, in one specific way: breathing too big or too fast blows off carbon dioxide and causes lightheadedness, tingling and sometimes more anxiety, not less. That is over-breathing, and it is the same loop that runs a panic attack. If you feel dizzy, breathe smaller and slower, and lengthen the exhale. Slow, low, comfortable breathing has no known upper limit.

What is the 4-7-8 breathing technique?

A deep breathing pattern with a long hold: in through the nose for four, hold for seven, out through the mouth for eight, four times. The hold and the long exhale make it strongly sedating, which suits bedtime. The plain 4-2-6 pattern on this page does the same thing without the hold, which many people find easier during the day.

Is there a free deep breathing app for iPhone?

Braele. Box breathing and the physiological sigh are free forever, and every pattern is guided by a living orb that grows as you breathe in and shrinks as you breathe out, with haptics for each phase and a voice that calls the counts. No account, no ads, works offline. The timer on this page uses the same engine.

Deep breathing

4 · 2 · 6

Deep breathing is not a big breath. It is a slow one, taken low in the belly, with an exhale longer than the inhale. Done that way it lowers heart rate and blood pressure within minutes, and daily practice lowers stress over weeks. Start the timer and breathe with it: in for four, pause for two, out for six.

Free, in your browser. Nothing to install.

Step by step

How to do it properly

1
Sit or lie down
Upright in a chair, or on your back with knees bent. Put one hand on your chest and one on your belly, just below the ribs. The hands are the whole feedback system.
2
Inhale low, for four
Breathe in through the nose for a count of four. The lower hand should rise; the upper hand should barely move. If the chest goes first, the breath is too high: make the next one smaller and let it drop.
3
Pause for two
A short, easy pause with the lungs comfortably full. Not a hold, not a strain, just the top of the breath. Skip it if you are anxious right now; it is optional.
4
Exhale long, for six
Breathe out slowly through the nose, or through pursed lips as if through a straw, for a count of six. Let the belly fall on its own; do not push the air out.
5
Repeat for five minutes
That is one breath of twelve seconds, five breaths a minute. Five minutes once a day is the dose that changed blood pressure and anxiety in the trials. The timer counts three rounds to teach the rhythm; the app carries it for as long as you like.

The mistake most people make

Told to take a deep breath, most people take a big one: a fast pull of air into the upper chest, shoulders rising. That is a stress breath. It is quicker and higher than normal breathing, it blows off carbon dioxide, and it can leave you lightheaded and more on edge than before. Deep, in every tradition and every trial that found a benefit, means slow and low: the diaphragm doing the work, the belly moving, the exhale unhurried. The volume of air barely matters. The speed and the depth in the body do.

What it does, and why

The diaphragm sits on the vagus nerve's territory, and a slow exhale is the strongest natural signal that nerve receives. Each one slows the heart a little and tips the nervous system toward rest. Around six breaths a minute the effect peaks: heart rate rises and falls in step with the breath, blood pressure eases, and the stress response quietens. A 2023 review in Frontiers in Physiology of daily deep breathing exercise found lower resting blood pressure and reduced stress and anxiety across studies, with five minutes a day the typical dose.

Deep breathing, belly breathing, diaphragmatic breathing

Three names for the same thing. Diaphragmatic is the anatomical term, belly breathing describes what you feel, deep breathing is what everyone calls it. Box breathing, 4-7-8 and coherent breathing are all deep breathing with a particular count: box adds holds to keep you alert, 4-7-8 adds a long hold to bring you down for sleep, coherent keeps in and out equal for daily balance. The 4-2-6 pattern on this page is the plain version, and the one to learn first.

When to use it

Before something stressful, after it, or in the middle of it if you can find a minute. It is also the pattern for chronic tension: a tight jaw at the desk, the shoulders up around the ears, the shallow breathing that goes with hours of screens. Set a reminder, or attach it to something that already happens: the kettle, the commute, sitting down at your desk. If anxiety is the problem specifically, the breathing exercises for anxiety page walks through which pattern fits which moment.

When it feels wrong

Lightheaded, tingling fingers, a sense of not getting enough air: all signs of breathing too big or too fast. Make the breaths smaller, not bigger, slow the exhale down, and drop the pause. If your chest simply will not let the breath go low, lie on your back with knees bent and a book on your stomach; making the book rise is the lesson. Anyone with a heart or lung condition, or who is pregnant, should keep to patterns without holds and check with a doctor before longer practice.

Nose or mouth

In through the nose, always: it warms and filters the air and slows the inhale down on its own. Out through the nose or through pursed lips, whichever makes the exhale easier to lengthen. Pursed-lip breathing, out through a small opening as if cooling soup, is what pulmonary rehab teaches for exactly this reason: it keeps the airways open and makes a six-count exhale feel natural.

Questions

What people ask

What is the correct way to do deep breathing?: Slowly, through the nose, into the belly, with the exhale longer than the inhale. Sit or lie down, put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach, and breathe so the lower hand moves and the upper one barely does. In for four, pause for two, out for six, at about five breaths a minute. The most common mistake is treating deep as big: a huge chest inhale is faster, higher and more anxious than a normal breath, which is the opposite of what you want.
What does deep breathing do?: Slow diaphragmatic breathing lowers heart rate and blood pressure while you do it, and daily practice lowers resting blood pressure, stress and anxiety over weeks. The mechanism is the vagus nerve: every slow exhale sends a signal that slows the heart and shifts the nervous system out of fight-or-flight. At around six breaths a minute the effect is strongest, and heart rhythm and breathing fall into step.
Is it better to inhale longer or exhale longer?: Exhale longer, if calm is the goal. The heart slows on the out-breath, so a long exhale presses the brake for longer each cycle. Equal in and out, as in coherent breathing, is balanced and good for daily practice. A longer inhale than exhale is activating and belongs in the morning, not at bedtime.
How long should you deep breathe?: Five minutes a day is the dose in most of the trials that found lower blood pressure and anxiety, and one or two minutes is enough to settle a stressful moment. Longer sessions are fine but add little; daily matters more than long.
Can you overdo deep breathing?: Yes, in one specific way: breathing too big or too fast blows off carbon dioxide and causes lightheadedness, tingling and sometimes more anxiety, not less. That is over-breathing, and it is the same loop that runs a panic attack. If you feel dizzy, breathe smaller and slower, and lengthen the exhale. Slow, low, comfortable breathing has no known upper limit.
What is the 4-7-8 breathing technique?: A deep breathing pattern with a long hold: in through the nose for four, hold for seven, out through the mouth for eight, four times. The hold and the long exhale make it strongly sedating, which suits bedtime. The plain 4-2-6 pattern on this page does the same thing without the hold, which many people find easier during the day.
Is there a free deep breathing app for iPhone?: Braele. Box breathing and the physiological sigh are free forever, and every pattern is guided by a living orb that grows as you breathe in and shrinks as you breathe out, with haptics for each phase and a voice that calls the counts. No account, no ads, works offline. The timer on this page uses the same engine.

Keep it going in the app

Braele guides slow breathing with a voice that calls every count, haptics you can follow eyes-closed, ambient sound, and a streak that has a rest day built in. Box breathing and the physiological sigh are free forever on the App Store.

Downloadon the App Store