← Back to breathing Slow Breath

Why this exists

Most "calm" breathing apps are subscription mazes with too many guided sessions and not enough actual evidence. This one operationalizes one specific, research-backed pattern — 4-4-4-4 box breathing — with a clean visual pacer and nothing else.

Slow breathing and blood pressure

Slow paced breathing — anywhere from about 3 to 6 breaths per minute — has been shown in multiple randomized trials to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Mechanism: shifting the autonomic balance toward parasympathetic activity via baroreceptor coupling.[1]

A 2017 review in the journal Breathe summarizing the evidence concluded that slow breathing techniques are a safe, easy adjunct to standard hypertension care. They don't replace medication — but they meaningfully add to it. Box breathing at 4-4-4-4 (≈3.75 breaths/min) sits well within the effective range.[2]

Slow breathing and anxiety

A 2023 Stanford randomized controlled trial (Balban, Spiegel, et al., Cell Reports Medicine) compared three breathing protocols against mindfulness meditation over four weeks. All four reduced anxiety; cyclic sighing — emphasizing prolonged exhalation — performed best. Box breathing also worked; it just wasn't the winner.[3]

The honest takeaway: any consistent slow-breathing practice helps. The specific protocol matters less than doing it. Pick one you'll actually use.

What this app does

It paces one cycle of box breathing — 4 seconds in, 4 hold, 4 out, 4 hold. The expanding circle is the only thing you have to watch. You can run it as long as you like; press Stop when you're done.

No accounts. No streaks. No upsell. Source code is open under AGPL-3.0. If you want a different pattern, future versions will add a picker — for now, this is the default that's good for most people.

References

  1. [1] Russo MA, Santarelli DM, O'Rourke D. *The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human.* Breathe. 2017;13(4):298–309. PubMed
  2. [2] Schein MH, Gavish B, Herz M, et al. *Treating hypertension with a device that slows and regularises breathing: a randomised, double-blind controlled study.* Journal of Human Hypertension. 2001;15(4):271–278. PubMed
  3. [3] Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, et al. *Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal.* Cell Reports Medicine. 2023;4(1):100895. Cell Reports Medicine
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