Breathing exercises are one of the cheapest wellbeing tools available, and one of the most heavily marketed. This article explains the technique the NHS recommends, what the research on breathwork does and does not show, and how to judge bigger claims.
What the NHS breathing exercise involves
The NHS describes a “calming breathing technique for stress, anxiety and panic” that “takes just a few minutes and can be done anywhere”. According to the NHS page, last reviewed on 12 June 2026, it works best if done regularly as part of a daily routine.
The steps are deliberately plain:
- Stand, sit in a chair that supports your back, or lie down, with clothing loosened so it does not restrict your breathing and feet roughly hip-width apart if you are upright.
- Let your breath flow deep into your belly, as far as is comfortable, without forcing it.
- Breathe in gently and regularly through your nose, and out through your mouth.
- If it helps, count steadily from 1 to 5 on the way in and again on the way out. The NHS notes you may not reach 5 at first.
- Carry on for at least 5 minutes.
There is nothing to buy and no special posture. The point is a slower, gentler rhythm than the shallow, quick breathing many people drift into when tense.
Why would breathing affect how stressed you feel?
Stress tends to speed up and shallow out breathing, and slowing it down is thought to send a calming signal back to the body. That is a plausible explanation rather than a proven one, and the research below is better at telling us whether people feel less stressed than at explaining exactly why.
It is also worth being clear about what breathing exercises are. They are a skill for managing the physical sensations of stress in the moment and over time. They do not remove the cause of stress, such as a punishing workload or money worries, and they are not a treatment for an anxiety disorder or depression.
Does breathwork actually reduce stress and anxiety?
The most useful single piece of evidence is a 2023 meta-analysis in the journal Scientific Reports by Fincham and colleagues. It pooled randomised controlled trials of breathwork in adults, with the main analysis covering 12 trials and 785 participants. Compared with control groups, the researchers found:
| Outcome | Trials pooled | Effect size (Hedges’ g) | 95% confidence interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stress | 12 | −0.35 | −0.55 to −0.14 |
| Anxiety | 20 | −0.32 | −0.48 to −0.16 |
| Depression | 18 | −0.40 | −0.58 to −0.22 |
Negative values favour breathwork, and the authors describe these as small-to-medium effects. In plain terms, on average people who practised breathing techniques reported somewhat lower stress than those who did not, but the average hides a lot of variation between studies and between people.
In the stress analysis, ten of the 12 trials used slow-paced breathing and two used fast-paced breathing. Most trials used self-reported questionnaires such as the Perceived Stress Scale, and the review found no physiological measures to cross-check them.
How strong is that evidence?
Moderate at best, and the authors say so themselves. Of the 12 stress studies, three were judged at high risk of bias and nine raised “some concerns”, so most were rated at moderate risk of bias. Participants usually know whether they are doing a breathing exercise, which makes it hard to rule out expectation effects. The review also could not analyse long-term follow-up, and adverse events were rarely reported.
The authors conclude that breathwork “may be effective” for stress and mental health, but add that it could be premature to recommend it in clinical contexts, and call for better-designed trials “to avoid a miscalibration between hype and evidence”. It is also worth knowing that the first author declared they had trained as a breath teacher, which is a disclosure rather than a flaw, but a reminder that this field has enthusiastic practitioners.
For readers who want a wider lens on weighing claims like these, how to tell wellness trends from evidence-based advice sets out a general checklist.
Is fast or intense breathwork safe?
Not all breathwork is the gentle kind. Some popular formats involve rapid, forceful or prolonged breathing. A 2025 systematic review in Frontiers in Psychiatry looked at pranayama, the yogic breathing tradition, for mental disorders. It included seven publications reporting six randomised trials with 517 adults, and found small reductions in symptom severity compared with passive controls (a standardised mean difference of −0.27 in the intention-to-treat analysis).
That finding was fragile. When the high-risk studies were excluded, the intention-to-treat result was no longer statistically significant. Four of the six trials were rated high risk of bias, safety reporting was poor, and the benefit for depression alone was not significant. The authors reported that adverse events were more often linked to fast than to slow techniques, and said pranayama should not be used instead of standard therapies.
The sensible reading is that slow, comfortable breathing like the NHS exercise looks low-risk, while fast or breath-holding techniques deserve more caution. If any exercise makes you dizzy, light-headed, tingly or more anxious, stop and return to normal breathing.
A worked example: what a first week might look like
Illustrative arithmetic only: five minutes a day for seven days adds up to 35 minutes across the week, roughly the length of a single television episode. Spread across the day, it fits into existing routines:
- Weekday mornings: five minutes seated before opening email.
- A midweek lunch break: five minutes on a bench or in a park, which pairs well with the ideas in what London’s green spaces can add to your daily routine.
- Before bed: five minutes lying down, with the lights low.
Counting from 1 to 5 is optional, and missing a day does not undo anything. Regularity matters more than perfection, which is consistent with the NHS advice to make it part of a daily routine.
What do other NHS sources say about managing anxiety?
The NHS self-help guidance for generalised anxiety disorder, last reviewed on 22 October 2024, advises learning to relax with calming breathing exercises and doing regular exercise, noting that activities such as running, walking, swimming and yoga can reduce anxiety and stress. Breathing is therefore one item in a wider set of self-help steps, rather than the whole answer.
For worry that seems out of proportion or hard to switch off, anxiety and everyday worry: when it is a problem and what helps covers the signs to look for and the treatments available.
When to speak to a GP or NHS 111
Breathing exercises are self-care, not an assessment. Speak to your GP if stress, worry or low mood has lasted for several weeks, is affecting your sleep, work or relationships, or feels out of your control. The NHS says to see a GP if you think you might have generalised anxiety disorder, or if you have been diagnosed and treatments are not helping. In England you can often refer yourself to NHS talking therapies without seeing a GP first, and how self-referral works explains the process.
Do not use breathing exercises to manage chest pain, severe breathlessness, or sudden symptoms that are new to you. Call NHS 111 for advice, or 999 in an emergency. Never stop or change prescribed medicine on the strength of a breathing technique.
If you feel you cannot keep yourself safe, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option, or call 999. The Samaritans are available at any time on 116 123.
A small tool with a modest, honest evidence base
Slow breathing is a reasonable thing to try: it is free, quick, and the pooled evidence points to small-to-medium benefits for stress and anxiety, even though the underlying trials are imperfect. It is best treated as one habit among several, alongside movement, sleep, time outdoors and connection with other people, and not as a cure for anything. Gentle techniques are the safest place to start, and bold promises about transformation from any breathwork method are a cue to ask for the evidence.
This is general information, not a substitute for advice from a doctor or other qualified health professional. If you are worried about your health, speak to your GP or call NHS 111; for emotional support, the Samaritans are on 116 123 at any time.
Sources: NHS; Scientific Reports via PubMed Central; Frontiers in Psychiatry via PubMed Central
