Breathing for energy (energising breath)

Can breathing give you energy?

A little, for a little while. Breathing and alertness are closely wired: in mice, a small group of cells in the brain’s breathing centre connects straight to a centre for arousal and attention (Yackle et al. 2017). Changing how you breathe can change how awake you feel, in both directions.

The surprise is that slow breathing often helps too. In a review of 15 studies, people who practised slow breathing reported more vigour and alertness, as well as feeling calmer (Zaccaro et al. 2018). If the fog is really tension, a few slow rounds may help more than a lift.

So there are two gentle routes: a short, inhale-led breath for a lift, or slow breathing for a clearer head. This page teaches the first.

How do you do the energising breath?

Stand up if you can, or sit tall. Follow the player above: a longer rise as you breathe in, a quick, easy fall as you breathe out.

Does a longer inhale make you more alert?

It’s a reasonable idea with mixed support. The calming breaths on this site spend longer breathing out. Turning the ratio round gives the in-breath more time instead, and some research suggests the in-breath is a slightly more alert moment: in one lab study, people recognised fearful faces faster and remembered more accurately while breathing in through their nose than while breathing out (Zelano et al. 2016). That’s about split seconds within a breath, though, not a practice.

When researchers compared ratios directly, the result went the other way. People felt more positively energised, as well as more relaxed, breathing out for longer than breathing in (Van Diest et al. 2014). So treat the energising breath as a gentle pick-me-up you might enjoy, not a switch.

What helps the afternoon slump?

Getting up helps more than anything you do sitting down. A breath is a good excuse to stand, and the rest of the routine does the work.

Routine · 3 minutes

The 3-minute afternoon reset

1. Stand up and stretch both arms overhead. Let them float down.
2. 1 minute of the energising breath, 10 rounds, by a window if there is one.
3. 1 minute of walking: to the kitchen, the stairs, the door and back.
4. A glass of water, then back to work.

If the slump comes from a long stretch at the screen, breathing exercises at work has a one-minute break for your desk. If it’s focus rather than energy you’re short of, try breathing exercises for focus.

Is breath of fire a good idea for energy?

It’s the method most lists recommend, so it’s worth knowing what it is. Breath of fire, from Kundalini yoga, is rapid breathing through the nose, about two or three breaths a second: in and out for the same length, with the belly pumping each out-breath and the in-breath following by itself. It’s a close cousin of kapalabhati, yoga’s short, sharp out-breaths. People find both invigorating. They can also leave you light-headed, tingly or wobbly, which is why we don’t teach them here.

In a month-long trial, people who did 5 minutes a day of fast breathing with breath holds felt better after their sessions. So did every other group, and the slow, double-inhale breath was the one that beat meditation for mood (Balban et al. 2023). Never practise fast breathing or breath holds in or near water, or while driving. We describe the intense methods honestly in types of breathwork, and the traditional practices in pranayama.

Why do I feel dizzy when I breathe fast?

Breathing fast or hard blows off carbon dioxide faster than your body makes it. That dip in carbon dioxide, not a lack of oxygen, is what makes you feel light-headed and your fingers or lips tingle. It passes once you breathe gently again.

That’s why the energising breath stays at 10 breaths a minute, at the slow end of an ordinary resting pace, and asks for a fuller breath rather than a bigger one. If even that makes you dizzy, shorten the in-breath to 3 seconds. That gentler 3-2 can be your own pattern in Breathform once you have Breathform Full.

What does the research say about breathing for energy?

The energising breath hasn’t been tested as its own technique. The closest lab study compared a longer in-breath with a longer out-breath and found people felt more energised, and more relaxed, with the longer out-breath (Van Diest et al. 2014). A review of slow breathing found people often reported feeling more alert (Zaccaro et al. 2018), but those studies were small and none was a randomised trial.

So: a gentle pick-me-up with limited evidence. Enjoy it for a minute, then let a walk, daylight and water do the rest.

Every study on this page (5)

• Yackle et al., 2017: In mice, removing about 175 nerve cells from the brain's breathing centre left breathing normal but made the animals calmer.
• Zaccaro et al., 2018: In 15 small studies of healthy people, slow breathing was linked with feeling more relaxed and alert, and less anxious.
• Zelano et al., 2016: In a small study, natural nose breathing paced the brain's emotion and memory areas, and recall was sharper on the in-breath.
• Van Diest et al., 2014: In a small lab study of mostly young women, breathing out longer than in felt more relaxing than breathing in longer.
• Balban et al., 2023: Five minutes a day of cyclic sighing lifted mood a little more than mindfulness meditation, in 108 adults.

Questions people ask

What’s the best breathing exercise to wake up in the morning?

A minute of the energising breath on this page, standing by a window, is a gentle start. Some people prefer a few slow, full breaths with a stretch. Daylight and moving around help as much as any breath. There’s a short routine for the first minutes of the day in morning breathing exercises.

Can I use it before exercise?

Yes, as a light warm-up for your attention. A minute standing, then start moving. Don’t use fast or forceful breathing to psych yourself up before hard effort, though: it can leave you light-headed just when you need to be steady. Once you’re moving, let your breathing follow the effort on its own.

How often can I do it?

Once or twice a day, when you need a lift, is plenty. It’s meant to be short: about a minute, then back to ordinary breathing. If you notice you’re reaching for it all afternoon, that’s worth listening to. Tiredness that sticks around usually needs sleep, food, water or a break more than a breathing exercise.

Is box breathing good for energy?

It’s better for focus than for a lift. Box breathing is slow and even, so it tends to leave you calm and alert rather than buzzing. If you’d like to feel more awake, try the energising breath first, then a few rounds of box breathing to settle into whatever comes next.