Slow breathing exercise

What is slow breathing?

Slow breathing is breathing on purpose at a slower pace than usual. At rest, most adults breathe about 12 to 20 times a minute. Researchers usually call anything from 4 to 10 breaths a minute slow, and the changes they measure are often largest at about 6 (Russo et al. 2017).

This page is about slowing your breath as an exercise. Breathing that becomes very slow on its own, when someone is unwell or hard to wake, is something different and a reason to get medical help.

How do you do the slow breathing exercise?

Sit with your back supported, or lie down. Follow the player above: it rises for 6 seconds and falls for 6.

If 6 seconds feels long, start at 5 in and 5 out. It’s 6 breaths a minute, and it’s called coherent breathing.

How slow should you breathe?

Slow enough to feel unhurried, never so slow that you’re hungry for the next breath. For most adults, the sweet spot is somewhere between 4.5 and 6.5 breaths a minute (Meehan & Shaffer 2024). In that range, the small rise and fall of your heart rate with each breath grows larger, and breathing and heart rhythm start to move together.

Start where you’re comfortable and slow down over a few sessions.

If you’d like a longer out-breath, 4-6 breathing keeps 6 breaths a minute with the slowing half on the way out. If you’d like holds, box breathing is the even, four-sided version. Both are free in Breathform as Unwind and Box breathing.

Is 5 breaths a minute better than 6?

Neither is better for everyone. The pace at which your heart rhythm swings most, your resonance pace, is about 6 breaths a minute on average, but it varies from person to person (Lehrer & Gevirtz 2014). Most studies used about 6. Five suits you if 6 a minute still feels a little quick, or you simply enjoy a longer breath.

Try both on different days. The one that feels easier to keep up is the right one for you.

How long should a slow breathing session be?

Two minutes is a good start, and often enough to feel a little steadier. For a regular practice, aim for 5 to 15 minutes a day. In one trial, young adults did 15 minutes of app-guided slow breathing each evening for 30 days and rated their sleep better than a group who spent the time on social media (Laborde et al. 2019). Studies on blood pressure asked for at least 5 minutes, 3 or more days a week, for a month or longer (Chaddha et al. 2019).

What does the research say about slow breathing?

Slow breathing is one of the best-studied things you can do with your breath. A 2022 review of 223 studies found that it raises heart rate variability (the small beat-to-beat changes that tend to grow when you’re at rest) during practice, straight after a session and after weeks of practice (Laborde et al. 2022). That’s a marker of the body’s rest side, not proof of long-term health benefits.

For mood, the picture is more modest. In a trial of 400 adults, 10 minutes a day of breathing at about 5.5 breaths a minute was followed by less stress and anxiety, but no more than with a placebo practice at 12 breaths a minute (Fincham et al. 2023).

So: well-supported effects on heart rhythm, and a gentle, low-effort habit for feeling steadier. What it does to your body is explained in slow breathing benefits, and every study is on the science page.

How well each breath is studied

• Slow breathing (6-6)Some evidence
• Coherent breathingWell studied

Every study on this page (9)

• Russo et al., 2017: An overview of research in healthy people suggests slow breathing affects the heart, lungs and nervous system; more study is needed.
• Meehan & Shaffer, 2024: In two small studies at six breaths a minute, breathing out longer than in made no difference to heart-rhythm measures.
• Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014: Heart rate swings most at around six breaths a minute; this review says a blood-pressure reflex is the likeliest reason.
• Laborde et al., 2019: In 64 healthy young adults, a month of 15-minute evening slow-breathing sessions improved self-rated sleep more than time on social media.
• Chaddha et al., 2019: Across 17 trials in people with high or borderline-high blood pressure, regular slow breathing modestly lowered blood pressure, though results varied.
• Laborde et al., 2022: Across 223 studies, slow breathing raised heart-rhythm signs of calm, during practice and after, though that alone doesn't prove a health benefit.
• Fincham et al., 2023: In 400 UK adults, four weeks of slow coherent breathing did no better than a faster placebo breathing practice; both groups improved.
• Leyro et al., 2021: Across 40 trials with 3,047 people, breathing-based therapies eased anxiety more than comparison groups, but most trials had design flaws.
• Watso et al., 2023: In 20 young adults, breathing through the nose rather than the mouth slightly lowered blood pressure and raised heart-rhythm signs of calm.

Why does slow breathing lower blood pressure?

The best-supported explanation is the baroreflex, the reflex that keeps your blood pressure steady from moment to moment. Breathing near 6 a minute makes the heart-rate waves larger, which seems to give that reflex more to do (Lehrer & Gevirtz 2014).

In people with raised blood pressure, regular slow breathing is linked to modest drops: about 5.6 mmHg systolic across 17 studies (Chaddha et al. 2019). There’s more in breathing exercises to lower blood pressure.

Questions people ask

Can slow breathing help anxiety?

It can help many people feel calmer. In a review of 40 trials, breathing-focused practices such as slow breathing reduced anxiety more than control conditions, though most trials were at high risk of bias. In the moment, a longer out-breath is often the easiest way in. There’s more in breathing exercises for anxiety.

Is slow breathing the same as deep breathing?

Not quite. Slow breathing is about pace: fewer breaths a minute. Deep breathing is about size, and big breaths can make you light-headed. The two meet when you breathe low into your belly, which makes a slow pace easier to keep. Our guide to diaphragmatic breathing shows how.

How many breaths a minute is slow breathing?

Slow breathing usually means 4 to 10 breaths a minute, against the 12 to 20 most adults take at rest. You don’t need to keep it up all day: a few minutes of slow breathing is a practice, and your breathing goes back to its own pace afterwards. There’s more in normal breathing rate.

Should I breathe through my nose or my mouth?

Through your nose, if it’s comfortable. It slows the breath on its own and keeps it quiet. In one small trial at rest, nose breathing was linked to lower diastolic blood pressure than mouth breathing. If your nose is blocked, breathe in through your nose and out through softly parted lips, or just use your mouth.