The guide

How slow breathing calms you

Your breathing is the one part of your body's alarm system you can steer on purpose.

The short version

1. Your heart speeds up a little as you breathe in, and slows a little as you breathe out. That is normal and healthy.
2. When you breathe slowly, those rises and falls get bigger and smoother.
3. At around five or six breaths a minute, for many people, breathing and heart rate fall into step. This is often called resonance or coherent breathing.
4. A longer out-breath leans you towards the slowing side.
5. Your body reads this as "safe enough", and many people feel calmer within minutes.

What it isn't

It isn't magic, and it isn't a cure. It's a lever. It works on your body first, and your mind often follows. Some days it will do a lot, some days very little.

Where this comes from

• Lehrer and Gevirtz (2014), Heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work? Frontiers in Psychology.
• Zaccaro and others (2018), How breath-control can change your life: a systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Try it: Slow and even