4-7-8 Breathing: Definition, Techniques, & Benefits

What Is 4-7-8 Breathing?

4-7-8 breathing is a type of pranayama, or focused breathing, that uses controlled breath to improve physical and mental health. Dr. Andrew Weil created it to bring a person’s nervous system out of a fight or flight response.¹ 4-7-8 breathwork stimulates the vagus nerve, which engages the body’s relaxation response, and can positively impact cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems.²

Uses for 4-7-8 breathing include:

• Stress management
• Relaxation
• Falling asleep
• Yoga
• Emotional regulation
• Reduced anxiety
• Pain management

How Does 4-7-8 Breathing Work?

4-7-8 breathing, or the relaxing breath, is characterized by inhaling for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds, and exhaling for eight seconds. As a beginner, practice this breath in a quiet space twice daily with only four breath cycles at a time. Once you have advanced, practicing wherever and for however long you need will be easier.¹

Here are the five steps for practicing 4-7-8 breathing:

1. Prepare your environment: Find a place where you can be comfortable and without distractions. Silence your phone, turn off your tv, and minimize any other distractions so you can focus on your breath.
2. Sit up straight: Sitting up straight will help you practice this breathwork correctly because it will encourage deep breathing into the stomach instead of shallow breathing, where the breath only goes into the chest.
3. Be mindful: Start to pay attention to your body and surrounding environment. If you find it hard to be mindful, you can use guided meditations, guided imagery, or listen to relaxing music.
4. Count your breaths: Count your breath silently in your head. Inhale for four seconds, retain for seven seconds, and exhale for eight seconds. If you find yourself becoming anxious about the counting, just focus on retaining and exhaling the breath for longer than your inhalation.
5. Focus on sensations: Notice the physical sensations and emotions you feel when you start, during the practice, and once you finish. Charting these changes will help to build your mind/body awareness and bring your attention to the present moment.

4-7-8 Breathing Method Benefits

Consciously controlling our breath has powerful benefits for our mental and physical health. 4-7-8 breathing increases oxygen in the lungs and engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows the body to shift from experiencing distress into a calmer state. It has also been shown to decrease dyspnea, anxiety, and depression in people with moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).³

Common benefits of 4-7-8 breathing include:

Reduced Anxiety & Stress

Regulated breathing helps us manage our stress responses by strengthening our nervous system’s “rest and digest” state. Regulated breathwork can decrease cortisol levels and increase sustained attention and positive affect.⁴ It also is a form of mindfulness, keeping us in the present moment instead of spiraling into anxious thoughts about the future.

Some ways that 4-7-8 breathing can help regulate anxiety and stress include: 

• Lowers blood pressure: Practicing 4-7-8 breathing stabilizes blood flow and dilates blood vessels, improving blood pressure and reduces physiological anxiety symptoms.
• Activates the parasympathetic nervous system: conscious and regulated breathing engages the parasympathetic state of our nervous system, where relaxation and healing happens and disengages our fight or flight response.
• Increases emotional regulation: 4-7-8 breathing regulates our emotions by helping us stay grounded instead of going into fight or flight mode.
• Improves concentration: Regulating your breathing using the 4-7-8 technique will give your mind something to focus on, decreasing your racing thoughts and bringing you back to the present moment.
• Reduces heart rate: Increased heart rate can be a symptom of anxiety, and deep breathing increases oxygen in the blood, dilating the blood vessels to lower blood pressure and lower your heart rate.
• Decreases cortisol production: Cortisol is a hormone released during times of stress and anxiety, which can cause inflammation. 4-7-8 breathing can calm the mind and body to lessen stress and decrease cortisol production.

Regulated Sleep Patterns

If you are chronically stressed or struggle with anxiety, racing and intrusive thoughts can worsen at night because you have nothing else to focus on and are processing the day’s events. Also, stress can impact melatonin production in your body, exacerbating sleep issues. 4-7-8 breathing can help improve sleep issues, like insomnia, by getting your body and mind into a more relaxed state to fall asleep easier.

Some ways that 4-7-8 breathing can help with sleep include: 

• Triggers relaxation response: Deep breathing engages the parasympathetic stage of your nervous system, which is responsible for relaxing you. This will put you in the right state of mind to fall asleep, and stay asleep.
• Helps with grounding: using the 4-7-8 breathing method gives your mind something to concentrate on in the current moment which can help ground you, instead of worrying about the previous or upcoming day, to help you fall asleep.

Improved Cardiovascular Functioning

4-7-8 breathing has been shown to increase heart rate variability and lower blood pressure.⁵ When your blood vessels are dilated, oxygen in the blood will increase, keeping your organs and muscles strong and healthy. Deep breathing can also improve lung capacity, making your heart work less during exercise.

Cardiovascular benefits that 4-7-8 breathing can provide include:

• Lowers heart rate
• Improves quality of the airways
• Increases oxygen in the blood
• Decreases blood pressure
• Improves heart rate variability

Decreased Chronic Pain

When our body experiences pain, it goes into a fight or flight response. The longer the body remains in this stressed state, the more dysregulated the nervous system will become, and the worse the pain will be. Practicing mindfulness, like 4-7-8 breathing, can manage pain by allowing your nervous system to move into the relaxation response and decrease pain. Many studies show that mindfulness is an effective tool for managing pain.⁶

Who Can Practice 4-7-8 Breathing?

4-7-8 breathing is a simple technique that does not require any special equipment, which makes it readily available to all people in all places. However, if you’re afraid of doing it incorrectly, there are many options to support you in learning this technique. Some possibilities include online videos or audio tutorials, yoga classes, or mental health practitioners who incorporate breathwork into their therapeutic style.

Professional options to help you practice 4-7-8 breathing include:

• Yoga studios: Breathwork is one of the eight core principles of yoga. Yoga studios may have breathwork classes that incorporate 4-7-8 breathing, and can support you in learning this technique.
• Mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy (MBCT):  MBCT blends cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques, such as 4-7-8 breathing, to teach people about their thoughts in order to address unwanted emotions. An online therapist directory is a great option for finding a mental health practitioner who practices MBCT.
• Breathwork facilitators: Breathwork facilitators undergo extensive coursework and receive certification in breathing techniques, and can guide you through 4-7-8 breathing.
• Meditation teachers: Meditation teachers have training in meditation which can involve specialized training in 4-7-8 breathing.
• Acupuncturists: Acupuncturists may use 4-7-8 breathing to help you reduce and manage your stress in appointments and outside of them.

In My Experience

4-7-8 breathing is an easy breathwork method to learn and can significantly increase your mood and quality of life in just a few minutes that it takes to practice it. It is my go-to technique to teach clients, and I use it myself to manage my anxiety, fall asleep faster and stop the racing thoughts that come with everyday stressors.