27/04/2026
Performing each of these for 5 to 10 minutes once or twice per day will likely have a positive impact, although even 2-3 minutes may have some benefit.
Not surprisingly, there's an overlap between the respective benefits of the Sleep, Relax, and Unwind techniques.
The two key principles of breathwork for relaxing are typically:
1/ inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth and
2/ exhale for as long or slightly longer than you inhale.
5.5-5.5 breathing in for 5.5 seconds and out for 5.5 seconds. Ideally, this is inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. This duration might slightly vary from 5 to 6 seconds, depending on the individual. This has been shown to increase HRV.
The 15-15-15 pattern is breathing in for 15 seconds, holding for 15, and exhaling for 15. This has been shown to increase parasympathetic nervous system activity. This might take you a little bit to build up to (in terms of duration), so start with shorter times but keep the ratios the same to build up to 15 seconds for each.
4-4-4-4 box breathing has evidence to suggest it can improve sleep quality (by reducing sleep disturbances) and improve lung function. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds and hold for 4 seconds.
5-2-7 is a breath pattern of inhaling for 5 seconds, holding for 2 seconds and exhaling for 7 seconds. This particular sequence has research supporting its use in improving decision-making and increasing HRV.
