What is 4-7-8 breathing?
4-7-8 breathing is a slow pattern with a long exhale: breathe in through your nose for a count of four, hold for seven, then breathe out through your mouth for eight. Four rounds take a little over a minute. The physician Andrew Weil popularised it as a way to relax and wind down.
What matters is the ratio, not the seconds. The exhale is twice as long as the inhale, and one round takes 19 counts, so your breathing slows to about three breaths a minute.
How to do 4-7-8 breathing
These steps follow Weil’s own instructions (opens in new tab).
- Sit with your back straight, or lie down if you’re using it in bed.
- Rest the tip of your tongue on the ridge just behind your top front teeth, and keep it there throughout.
- Breathe out completely through your mouth, around your tongue, with a soft whoosh.
- Close your mouth and breathe in quietly through your nose for a count of four.
- Hold for seven.
- Breathe out through your mouth, with the whoosh, for eight.
- That’s one round. Do four.
Weil suggests no more than four rounds at a time for the first month, then up to eight if you want. If the hold feels too long, count faster and keep the 4-7-8 ratio. The timer’s Faster pace does this for you.
Why does 4-7-8 breathing work?
It slows your breathing to around three breaths a minute and makes the exhale twice as long as the inhale. Slow breathing tends to shift the nervous system toward its calmer, parasympathetic side, and the long exhale is the part most associated with slowing the heart.
The research on 4-7-8 itself is thin, and it’s better to say so:
- One small study. In a study of 43 healthy young adults (opens in new tab), heart rate and systolic blood pressure fell straight after three short sets of 4-7-8 breathing. It measured a single session, in young and healthy people.
- Slow breathing in general has a broader base. A systematic review (opens in new tab) linked breathing under 10 breaths a minute to more relaxation, less anxiety and higher heart rate variability in healthy adults.
- Sleep. I haven’t found a good trial yet of 4-7-8 and how fast people fall asleep. Its reputation for sleep comes mostly from Weil and from people’s own experience.
So 4-7-8 is a gentle, low-risk way to slow down before sleep. Use it because it helps you, and treat any promise that it puts you to sleep in 60 seconds as marketing.
Using 4-7-8 breathing at night
At night, the aim is to make it easy to stop doing things. Some ways to set it up:
- Put the timer on before you turn the light off, with the sound on, so you can close your eyes.
- Do your four rounds, then let your breathing go back to normal. Don’t keep counting.
- If you wake in the night, do another four rounds.
- Make it a routine. Weil suggests practising at least twice a day, so the pattern feels familiar by the time you need it.
Is 4-7-8 breathing safe?
For most people, yes. It’s a slow breathing exercise, and slow breathing carries very little risk.
Safety
- Feeling light-headed in the first few rounds is common, and it passes. If it doesn't, stop and breathe normally.
- Keep the seven-count hold comfortable. Use the Faster pace if it isn't.
- Never practise breathing exercises in water or while driving.
- If holding your breath is uncomfortable for you, for example with a heart or lung condition or in pregnancy, use coherent breathing instead. It has no holds.
More on this in breathwork safety and contraindications.