Breathing exercises for anxiety
Breathing exercises are one of the first things people look for when they feel anxious, and what they find is usually a list of patterns with different numbers and confident promises attached.
This page leaves the promises out. It describes what the common patterns actually ask of your body — how fast to breathe, how long to make the out-breath, whether to hold — and what people tend to reach for each one for. What any of them will do for you is not something a page or a timer can tell you.
If anxiety is affecting your daily life, speak to a doctor or a mental health professional. A breathing exercise is something you can do alongside that, never instead of it.
What the breath tends to do when you feel anxious
When people describe feeling anxious, the breath is often part of the description: quicker than usual, higher in the chest, with in-breaths that start before the last out-breath has properly finished.
The exercises people use at those times ask for close to the opposite, on purpose and at a set pace: fewer breaths a minute, and an out-breath that is given time to run all the way to the end.
That is a description of what the patterns ask you to do, not of what doing it will change. The rest of this page is about the asking.
What the patterns have in common
They are slow. Most of them sit somewhere between four and seven breaths a minute, against twelve to twenty for an adult at rest.
They give the out-breath at least as much time as the in-breath, and usually more. Extended exhale does it by ratio — four seconds in, six out. 4-7-8 does it by count, with eight seconds out after a seven-second hold. Resonance breathing keeps the two halves equal at five seconds each.
And they give you something narrow to follow. A count, a tone that rises and falls, a shape that grows and shrinks: the job is to keep in step with it, which is a small and specific thing to be doing.
Why a hold can be the hard part
Some of the best-known patterns include a breath hold. Box breathing holds twice per cycle, once full and once empty, and 4-7-8 holds for seven counts between the in-breath and the out-breath.
Plenty of people find those holds comfortable. Others find that being asked to stop breathing, at a moment when they already feel short of air, is the one part they cannot settle into — the hold turns into something to wait out rather than something to follow.
If that is you, start with a pattern that has no holds at all. Extended exhale and resonance breathing both keep the breath moving the whole time, so there is never a point where you are asked to stop it.
Keeping it gentle
A slow pattern is only worth following if you can follow it without effort. If a four-second in-breath leaves you gulping for the next one, the pace is too long for you at the moment, and the answer is a shorter pace rather than pushing through.
None of these patterns ask you to fill your lungs to the top. Breathing more deeply than you need to, for more than a minute or two, can leave you light-headed or tingly. If that happens, make the breaths smaller and softer, and if it does not pass, stop and breathe normally.
Stopping is always allowed. Ending a session part-way through because it is not working for you right now is an ordinary way to use one, and nothing is recorded against you for it.
Where to start
Extended exhale is the simplest place to begin: four seconds in, six out, nothing held, nothing to lose count of. The timer below opens on it, and you can change the pace before you press Begin.
If you would rather the in and the out be the same length, resonance breathing is five seconds each way — the page on six breaths a minute explains where that pace comes from. If you want the counting to be the point, because a narrow task is easier to hold onto than an open one, 4-7-8 is the pattern built around it.
The same patterns turn up in the article on breathing exercises for sleep. They are defined by their timing rather than by an occasion, so what changes from one heading to the next is only which of their features matters to you at the time.
Extended exhale — try it here
The timer below is the app, running in this page. It opens on extended exhale — four seconds in, six out, nothing held.
The pattern In 4 s · Out 6 s
Common questions
Which breathing exercise do people use for anxiety?
There is no single one. Extended exhale, resonance breathing, 4-7-8 and box breathing all come up. What they share is a slow pace and an out-breath at least as long as the in-breath; the patterns with no holds are usually the easiest to start with.
Why is the out-breath longer in most of these?
Stretching the out-breath is the gentlest way to slow the whole cycle down. The in-breath stays an ordinary size, and the extra time goes on the half of the breath that takes the least effort.
Is it normal to feel light-headed?
It can happen if you breathe more deeply than you need to. Make the breaths smaller and gentler, and if the feeling does not pass, stop and breathe normally.
Should I hold my breath if a pattern says to?
Only if it is comfortable. If a hold feels like something to wait out, use a pattern without one — extended exhale and resonance breathing keep the breath moving the whole time.
Can I do this where other people can see me?
Through the nose and without forcing anything, there is nothing to see or hear. On a phone the timer carries the pattern with sound and haptics, so the screen can stay off.
Can a breathing exercise replace seeing someone about anxiety?
No. Breathing exercises are something people do; they are not medical advice. If anxiety is affecting your daily life, speak to a doctor or a mental health professional.
The app
On your phone it runs with sound and haptics, and it works with no connection at all.