The patterns

How many times should I do 4-7-8 breathing?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 20263 sources

Four breaths at a time, at least twice a day, for the first month. That’s how Dr. Andrew Weil, who made the pattern popular, teaches it. After a month you can go up to eight breaths. If the hold leaves you lightheaded, shorten all three counts and keep the same ratio.

There are two common ways to get 4-7-8 wrong. Some do one round and give up because a seven second hold feels endless. Others do it for ten minutes in bed, which is about 32 breaths, eight times the four Weil suggests for the first month.

Step by step

1. Put the tip of your tongue on the ridge just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there.
2. Breathe out completely through your mouth, with a whoosh.
3. Close your mouth and breathe in quietly through your nose for a count of four.
4. Hold your breath for a count of seven.
5. Breathe out completely through your mouth, with a whoosh, for a count of eight.
6. That’s one breath. Do three more, for four in all.

Four breaths take 76 seconds at one count a second, a little over a minute. The timer below stops at four unless you raise it, since that’s the first month’s limit in Weil’s handout.

The ratio, not the speed

Weil’s handout says “the absolute time you spend on each phase is not important”. The ratio of 4 to 7 to 8 is what counts. If you can’t hold for seven, he says to speed up the counts and keep the ratio. It’s like a recipe you can halve. Use half-second counts and the four breaths take under 40 seconds, and the shape stays the same.

At one count a second, 4-7-8 runs at about 3.2 breaths a minute. That’s slower than box breathing (3.75) and far slower than the 12 to 18 breaths you take at rest. The out-breath is twice as long as the in-breath, and your heart slows a little on every out-breath. You can try other counts in pattern speed.

How well is it tested?

It hasn’t been tested much. Weil calls it “a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system”, but no big trial has tested 4-7-8 on its own for sleep or anxiety. In a 2025 lab study, 84 students tried square breathing, 4-7-8 and six breaths a minute, one session each. Six a minute raised HRV more than 4-7-8 did, and none of them changed mood in one sitting.

For sleep, a 2026 review of nine bedtime studies of slow breathing (457 people) found people rated their sleep better, mostly after 28 to 30 days of practice. Sleep measured on devices and in sleep labs didn’t show a clear change. See which breathing exercise helps you fall asleep.

When to stop or change

Weil says a little lightheadedness at first is normal and passes. If it doesn’t pass, or the hold makes you anxious, shorten the counts or switch to six a minute. If you’re pregnant or have heart disease or blood pressure you take medicine for, keep the hold short and comfortable, or use six a minute.

4-7-8 breathing has where it came from, what the hold does and every trial we could find.