How fast is your pattern?
Seconds for each phase in. Breaths a minute, the out-breath against the in-breath, and how long a set takes out.
3.75breaths a minute
Slower than the slow band. Fine for calm, though the heart swings less than at six.
- One breath
- 16 sec
- Out against in
- 1 to 1
- 10 breaths take
- 2:40
What your speed means, and what to do next
- 4.5 to 6.5 breaths a minute. The slow band, where your heart rate rises and falls the most with each breath. Cyclic sighing and six a minute sit here, and they're the two with the best trials for mood and stress.
- Under 4.5. Slower still, like box breathing (3.75) and 4-7-8 (about 3.2). Fine for calm, and the holds give your mind a job. If the holds leave you lightheaded, shorten them first.
- 6.5 to 10. Slower than everyday breathing but faster than the slow band. A good place to start if longer counts feel like a strain.
- Over 10. About the pace you breathe at rest anyway, 12 to 18 a minute for an adult. It won't slow your heart the way a slower count does.
The out-breath against the in-breath counts too. A longer out-breath spends more of each minute on the slowing side of your heartbeat. The timer runs cyclic sighing, six a minute, box and 4-7-8 at their usual counts.
How it works
Add up the seconds in one breath and divide 60 by the total. Box breathing at 4, 4, 4 and 4 seconds is 16 seconds a breath, so 3.75 breaths a minute. 4-7-8 is 19 seconds, about 3.2 a minute, with the out-breath twice as long as the in-breath. Five in and five out is six a minute.
Six a minute matters because it's close to the pace where your heart rate rises and falls the most with each breath. For most adults that pace sits between 4.5 and 6.5 breaths a minute. Box and 4-7-8 at full counts run slower than that, so a study of one pattern doesn't tell you much about another.
4 sources
- Shaffer and Meehan, Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2020pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Andrew Weil, the 4-7-8 breath handout, University of Arizonaawcim.arizona.edu
- Balban and others, Cell Reports Medicine, 2023pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Cleveland Clinic, vital signsmy.clevelandclinic.org
