Breathing exercise

Coherent breathing means breathing at about 6 breaths a minute: 5 seconds in, 5 seconds out. Research on heart rate variability, such as the review by Paul Lehrer and Richard Gevirtz (Frontiers in Psychology, 2014), describes how breathing near this pace makes the heart rate rise and fall in step with the breath. In France it is known as “cardiac coherence” or the 365 method, popularised by Dr David O’Hare: 3 times a day, 6 breaths a minute, for 5 minutes. It may help you relax; it is not a treatment.

Box breathing has four equal steps of 4 seconds: breathe in, hold, breathe out, hold with empty lungs. In 4-7-8 breathing, popularised by Dr Andrew Weil and drawn from yoga breathing, you breathe in through the nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7 and breathe out through the mouth for 8. The long holds don’t suit everyone: if they feel uncomfortable, choose coherent breathing, which has none.

Yes. Turn on the soft sounds: one tone marks breathing in, a lower one breathing out and a faint one each hold. Phones that support it can also vibrate at each change, and a screen reader can announce each instruction, at most once per change. Sounds are off until you choose them.

Your device asks websites to reduce motion, and this page respects that. The shape stays still, and a bar fills as you breathe in and empties as you breathe out, with the same written instructions and countdown.

Breathing exercises are gentle, but slow breathing and long holds can make some people dizzy. Stop and breathe normally if you feel light-headed, short of breath or unwell. If you are pregnant, or have a heart, lung or anxiety condition, ask a health professional which exercises suit you. This tool only paces your breathing; it doesn’t diagnose or treat anything.

No. The session runs entirely in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere. Only your choices (rhythm, length and sounds) are remembered, on this device.