Does slower breathing work better? What a 400-person trial found

1 peer-reviewed source, DOI-verifiedUpdated Oct 12, 2026How we verify

A breathing guide offers a precise rhythm, and suddenly relaxing feels like another task to get right. Is there a particular speed you need to reach before the practice can help?

A 2023 trial by Guy Fincham, Clara Strauss and Kate Cavanagh offers a useful reality check. It asked whether slow, coherent breathing would outperform a different guided breathing rhythm on stress and mental wellbeing. The answer was more cautious than a promise of a perfect pace.

Two guided rhythms, tested for four weeks

The researchers randomly allocated 400 UK adults recruited through the online research platform Prolific to one of two audio-guided practices. One group followed coherent breathing at about 5.5 breaths per minute; the other followed a pace of 12 breaths per minute. Both used equal time for breathing in and out, with instructions for nasal and abdominal breathing.

Participants were asked to practise for about ten minutes daily over four weeks. The study also included a follow-up four weeks after the intervention ended. Stress was the primary outcome; other self-reported measures included anxiety, depression, wellbeing and sleep disturbance.

The comparison group was not simply waiting or going about its day. It also received guidance and a daily practice. Participants were kept unaware of their assigned condition, and the groups did not differ in how credible they found the practice or how much benefit they expected. That makes the comparison useful for asking what the slower pace itself adds.

The slower pace did not show an added benefit

At the end of the four-week intervention, coherent breathing did not produce a statistically significant advantage over the comparison practice for stress. The primary group-by-time test had p = 0.765. This test asks whether the change in stress differed between the groups; it is not a measure of an individual’s chance of feeling better.

Both groups reported improvements over time in stress, anxiety, depression and wellbeing, but the improvements were not significantly different between them. The same broad pattern held at follow-up. Sleep disturbance did not significantly improve over time.

What “no difference” does—and does not—mean

This was a superiority trial: it tested whether one intervention worked better. A non-significant difference does not prove that the two practices are equivalent, or that every breathing pace is equally useful. It also does not settle questions about other techniques, longer courses or personalised instruction.

Because there was no group receiving no breathing practice, the improvements within both groups cannot establish how much change breathing caused. Attention, expectations, changes in everyday circumstances or scores moving closer to their usual level could have contributed. The 12-breaths-per-minute comparison may itself have been active. The design cannot cleanly separate those explanations.

Where the evidence stops

This was a remote study in a general-population sample, not a treatment trial designed around a diagnosed anxiety disorder. People with conditions affecting their ability to control or pace their breathing were excluded. Outcomes and adherence were self-reported, and the researchers could not directly check how each person breathed at home. Participants reported practising on about 20 days on average.

The findings therefore do not validate a particular commercial app, EasyBreezyMind audio or a claim that slow breathing will reliably treat anxiety. Nor did the study test whether an ordinary quiet break without breathing instructions would work as well.

A practical takeaway without a performance target

The following suggestions are original educational prompts, not the trial’s protocol or a tested treatment. If you choose a breathing practice, you do not need to turn a published pace into a personal pass-or-fail test.

• Notice whether the instructions feel comfortable and easy to follow. A slower number is not, by itself, proof of a better result.
• If following your breath feels uncomfortable, let it return to its natural rhythm or choose an outward focus, such as sounds in the room. Stop if you feel dizzy or distressed.
• Keep expectations modest. Feeling settled during one session and seeing a lasting change in anxiety are different outcomes.
• If anxiety keeps interfering with sleep, work or relationships, seek support from a qualified professional rather than relying on a breathing timer alone.

The useful question is not just “Did people improve?” It is also “What were they compared with?” Reading that part of a study helps you choose a practice with curiosity, without turning uncertain research into another demand on yourself.

Explore approaches to overthinking · Read the broader breathwork review

Read the research

Fincham GW, Strauss C, Cavanagh K (2023). Effect of coherent breathing on mental health and wellbeing: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Scientific Reports, 13, 22141. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49279-8. Full text. Found through Consensus.

Source article: © Guy W. Fincham, Clara Strauss and Kate Cavanagh, 2023. Published in Scientific Reports on 13 December 2023 under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This is an original summary and educational adaptation by EasyBreezyMind; wording, explanations and practical prompts are changed. No questionnaires, figures, images or audio recordings are reproduced. The authors do not endorse this website. Article-specific licence verified against the original full text on 12 October 2026.