I Tried the 4-7-8 Breathing Technique Every Morning for 2 Weeks — Here’s What Happened

Stress is a part of life. We’re all under pressure and sometimes that pressure can feel unbearable. That said, there are times when a little stress is actually beneficial. For example, it can motivate you to work or study harder to achieve better results.

However, other times stress can be a real problem, affecting your mental and even your physical health. That’s because of something called the flight or flight response, which is how your body usually responds to stress.

Faced with a perceived danger, which is what stress is, your body dumps adrenalin into your blood, resulting in:

• Increased energy and strength
• Laser-like focus
• Elevated breathing rate
• Muscle tension
• Blood diverted away from internal organs
• Increased blood pressure

This primes you to fight or run for your life – it’s like a superpower!

However, if you have no outlet for stress, e.g., a bear to fight off or a lion to run away from, you have to sit and boil in your own “stress juices.” Prolonged stress is very bad for your health – which is a topic explored in this in-depth article.

Thankfully, there are several things you can do to reduce the effects of stress. These include natural supplements, prescribed medication, exercise, and dietary changes.

Related: Sweat Away Stress – The Best Exercises for Anxiety Relief

Breathing exercises are also popular and effective and have been shown to reduce the impact and effect of stress.

I’m a veteran personal trainer and as well as helping people achieve their fitness goals, I also want to improve their health – physical and mental. Consequently, I’m always seeking and experimenting with methods that will benefit my clients.

In this article, I share what happened to my stress levels when I tried the 4-7-8 breathing technique every morning for two weeks.

What is the 4-7-8 Breathing Technique?

The 4-7-8 is a popular breathing exercise normally associated with better sleep. In studies, it’s been shown to help people fall asleep more quickly, sleep longer, and sleep more deeply (1). Sleep is the unsung hero of fitness and fat loss and getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night is critical for reaching any exercise goal.

Related: The Importance of Sleep for Building Muscle and Losing Fat

However, what makes the 4-7-8 such an effective sleep aid is its ability to reduce anxiety and stress (2). A mind free from worrying is a quiet mind, and sleep should come more easily when you are relaxed.

A few minutes of 4-7-8 pattern breathing has several proven effects, including:

Activation of the Parasympathetic Nervous System

Deep, controlled breathing helps calm the sympathetic (stress-inducing) nervous system while activating the parasympathetic (relaxing) nervous system. This switches your brain from a stressed to a more relaxed state.

Regulation of CO₂ and O₂ Levels

4-7-8 pattern breathing raises the level of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the blood, which causes vasodilation (blood vessel widening), improving oxygen (O₂) delivery to all cells and tissues, including your brain. More oxygen means a calmer, better-functioning brain as well as a slower heart rate and lower blood pressure, all of which increase when you are stressed.

Reduces Overactive Thinking & Anxiety

Focusing on the breathing pattern shifts your attention away from stressors and intrusive thoughts, quietening your mind and reducing anxiety. As such, it’s an effective distraction from many of the causes of stress.

Raised GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) Levels

The 4-7-8 breathing method has a meditative effect, similar to mindfulness or guided meditation. As such, it increases your levels of GABA levels, which is a neurotransmitter that calms the nervous system and helps reduce stress and anxiety.

There are lots of different breathing exercises you can try, all of which are similarly effective. However, the 4-7-8 is especially popular because of its use in the special forces, where operators use it to control anxiety in intensely stressful situations.

How to Do The 4-7-8 Breathing Technique

The 4-7-8 is as simple as it is effective:

1. Sit or lie in a comfortable position.
2. Inhale through your nose for a slow count of four.
3. Hold your breath for a slow count of seven.
4. Exhale slowly through your mouth for a slow count of eight.
5. Repeat 4-8 times or until you feel relaxed and calm.

The Effect of Doing 4-7-8 Breathing Each Morning for Two Weeks

I normally wake up pretty easily and leap out of bed ready to face the day – or grab a cup of coffee! However, for this experiment, I changed my routine to include five to ten minutes of 4-7-8 breathing each morning before rising.

I did this by adding a snooze function to my alarm so, once it woke me up, it would sound again ten minutes later to signal the end of my breathwork session. As such, it was the first thing I did every morning, making it an easy habit to start and maintain.

Having used the 4-7-8 breathing technique in the past, I knew how effective it was for promoting longer, deeper sleep. However, I wasn’t so sure how effective it would be in the morning.

This is how it affected me:

Improved Morning Mood

Despite being a certified morning person, I can be a bit of a grouch until I’ve walked my dogs and had my first cup of Joe. Consequently, my family tends to give me plenty of space until they see me with my coffee mug in hand.

However, just a few days after starting my two-week 4-7-8 breathing experiment I noticed that I felt happier and more relaxed at the start of each day. My opinion was confirmed by my family, who said I was definitely more approachable and talkative despite the time of day.

Better Focus

As well as being a personal trainer, I’m also a freelance fitness journalist. As such, I often spend my mornings producing content for a range of clients. Invariably, this takes longer than it should because I often find myself checking social media, watching YouTube videos, or looking for new music to listen to when I should be writing.

About a week after starting my morning 4-7-8 breathing experiment, I noticed I was finishing articles more quickly and spending less time mindlessly staring at Facebook or exploring Spotify.

This improved focus carried over to other aspects of my life, including talking to family and friends and even concentrating on TV shows and movies I was watching. Staying focused was taking much less effort, and I found it much easier to ignore distractions.

Improved Memory

If there are two things that I’m guaranteed to forget, it’s people’s names and their phone numbers. I’ve tried lots of different methods and tricks to fix this including building “memory palaces,” word associations, and visualization. Sadly, none have stuck.

Incredibly, 4-7-8 breathing each morning for two weeks has helped improve my memory for names and numbers. While I won’t be winning any awards for my memory anytime soon, this was still a very welcome and unexpected benefit.

Lower Blood Pressure and Resting Heart Rate

My BP and RHR are generally pretty low. After all, I’ve been a habitual exerciser for a long time. However, even my already low BP and RHR decreased when I incorporated the 4-7-8 breathing technique into my morning routine.

While this wasn’t important for me, it did confirm that regular 4-7-8 pattern breathing had physical as well as mental benefits.

More Stable Emotions

I’m quite a reactive person and my emotions can change rapidly from deliriously happy to Hulk-like anger on a dime. This is a problem I’m aware of and consciously try and control as it sometimes causes difficulties – both for me and those around me.

Starting each day with 5-10 minutes of 4-7-8 breathing has made me feel more emotionally balanced and less prone to such dramatic mood swings. This has been very welcome, and I’m enjoying being a calmer, less reactive person.

Less Stress and Anxiety

Stress is part and parcel of modern life. Trying to balance work and family while dealing with all the other unavoidable demands on your time and energy can be mentally exhausting.

As a former British Royal Marine, I’ve lived and worked in some pretty stressful environments, but my experience, work and home life can be similarly challenging, and sometimes more relentless.

So, like almost every other person on planet Earth, I sometimes struggle with stress.

The good news is that just 5-10 minutes of 4-7-8 breathing has helped reduce stress and anxiety to more manageable levels. But, full disclosure, I also added a few extra 4-7-8 top-up sessions to my day whenever I felt that my stress levels were starting to rise.

Regardless, I am happy to report that 4-7-8 breathing is an effective stress reducer. Given the prevalence of anxiety and stress-related illness, this is very good news indeed!

Better Sleep

4-7-8 breathing has always been my favorite natural sleep aid and I use it periodically to help me sleep at night. However, despite using this technique in the morning, when nighttime rolled around, I noticed I fell asleep faster and slept more deeply than usual.  

I can only put this down to less daytime stress and anxiety, both of which can interfere with going and staying asleep. This was another unexpected but very welcome benefit of starting my day with a few minutes of 4-7-8 breathing.

Disclaimer: The 4-7-8 breathing technique is a simple tool for relaxation and stress management. However, if you experience chronic stress, anxiety, or other mental health concerns, please consult your doctor or a qualified healthcare professional. This technique is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

Closing Thoughts

The causes of stress are often hard to avoid. Consequently, a lot of people go through life feeling anxious and on edge. Prolonged stress can have a very negative impact on your mental and physical health and is a leading cause of illness and disease. It can even contribute to weight gain.

That said, there are numerous strategies that you can use to make stress less impactful, including the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Incredibly, this simple breath control method can have a huge impact on your mental state, and it’s also a fantastic sleep aid.

The 4-7-8 breathing technique is supported by science and, based on my personal experience, it really does work. In fact, it worked so well that I now recommend it to all my clients.

Have you tried the 4-7-8 breathing technique? If so, how did it work for you? Share your thoughts in the comments section below – I’d love to hear from you!

References:

1 – Su H, Xiao L, Ren Y, Xie H, Sun XH. Effects of mindful breathing combined with sleep-inducing exercises in patients with insomnia. World J Clin Cases. 2021 Oct 16;9(29):8740-8748. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i29.8740. PMID: 34734052; PMCID: PMC8546813.

2 – Balban MY, Neri E, Kogon MM, Weed L, Nouriani B, Jo B, Holl G, Zeitzer JM, Spiegel D, Huberman AD. Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Rep Med. 2023 Jan 17;4(1):100895. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895. Epub 2023 Jan 10. PMID: 36630953; PMCID: PMC9873947.

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