Longer Exhales Than Inhales for Stress Relief and Health Benefits

Many people today enjoy breathing practices for improved health and stress relief. The breathing pattern itself matters, as does how you breathe.

When you lengthen the exhale, you start engaging the parasympathetic side of the nervous system, which involves rest and digest. The more you sit in “rest and digest” mode, the more you are in healing mode, relaxed and less or not stressed, able to engage in clear thinking as well as communication.

Contrast that with equal or longer inhales than exhales. This activates the sympathetic side of the nervous system, or fight or flight. Unfortunately this state is the common state of most people nowadays!

Try it now. What happens simply when you lengthen your exhale, relative to your inhale? You might notice that you *must* calm down in order to maintain this pattern.

For comparison, try now the other way. Take a deep inhale, and then push out the air with a quick exhale. Repeat a few times. How do you feel now? You probably feel way more energized.

Thus, if you want more calm in your life (thereby reducing stress and all its related benefits), try shifting your breathing pattern to longer exhales versus inhales.

The basic practice is this, and can be done any time.

Whenever you are able, start counting silently to yourself when you inhale, and also when you exhale. Inhale-2-3, exhale-2-3. And so on. Notice how long each takes.

Then, slowly increase the length of your exhales. Inhale-2-3, exhale-2-3-4. Repeat for a breath or two, then inhale-2-3, exhale-2-3-4-5. And so on.

A good target would be to lengthen your exhales to twice the count of your inhales. So if you took a count of 3 on the inhale, your target would be a count of 6 on the exhale.

Do your best to maintain a consistent rhythm of counting. At this point, beginning with whatever rate of counting is fine.

Good goals to aim for, in this order, would be:

1. A 2:1 ratio of exhales to inhales.
2. A count of 4 on the exhale, and 2 on the inhale.
3. A count of 8 on the exhale, and 4 on the inhale.
4. A count of 10 on the exhale, and 5 on the inhale.

You could count to actual seconds at some point. There is an added benefit to counting to actual seconds, which is knowing how many breaths you take per minute. Know that once you measure yourself to actual time, the above goals become more challenging!

Goal 3, at an 8 second exhale and 4 second inhale, would mean that you would be taking only 5 full cycles of breath a minute. For most people, this is fairly challenging, and with practice it can be maintained at rest.

Goal 4, at a 10 second exhale and 5 second inhale, is even more challenging to maintain than Goal 3! Usually this is practiced while meditating, or sitting quietly, and generally without activity. It does require a level of calm and relaxation that is worthwhile to work towards.

What if you’re having problems achieving these breathing patterns?

It is common for people to have difficulty slowing their breathing, as well as shifting themselves into a more calm state. It usually reveals the current state of their being, and how stressed and in fight or flight mode they are.

It also reveals their method of breathing. Are you breathing optimally using your diaphragm and not always with your chest or shoulders? If so, then you’ll want to work on shifting your breathing to using your diaphragm to enable you to take in more air on each breath.

Using your diaphragm to breathe will help immensely in your ability to maintain longer intervals of exhales and inhales, and not get you into a place of oxygen debt.

RELAX! The more tension you have in your body, the harder this is. With each exhale, notice some part of your body with tension and release it! Let your shoulders drop. Feel more heavy in your seat. Release your facial muscles. Everything. Empty your mind of tension causing thoughts. Focus on the count and your breathing and only that.

For more fun, challenge, and even more benefits with this breathing pattern, try inserting a 1-count breath pause between your inhales and exhales.

For more research on breathing, check out these resources:

Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials, Jan 2023.

How to Breathe Correctly for Optimal Health, Mood, Learning & Performance – Huberman Lab podcast.