Slow, counted breathing is one of the few autonomic levers you can pull without equipment. This timer locks three common protocols so you are not inventing a cadence mid-session. Box breathing uses equal sides — typically inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4 — and shows up in tactical and performance settings as a way to keep the count boring enough that the mind has less room to sprint. 4-7-8 lengthens the exhale and the hold after the inhale: in for 4, hold 7, out for 8. People use it in bed because a longer exhale biases the parasympathetic side of the seesaw. Coherent breathing aims near 5.5 breaths per minute — about 5.5 seconds in and 5.5 seconds out with no heroic holds — a pace that sits close to many heart-rate-variability resonance ranges discussed in psychophysiology papers. None of these protocols diagnose anxiety, treat hypertension, or replace a clinician. If you feel dizzy, tingly, or short of air, stop and breathe normally. Do not practice long holds if you are pregnant without clearance, have uncontrolled heart or lung disease, or are in the middle of a panic attack you cannot downshift. After a heavy meal, prefer coherent 5.5 or a gentle box for five minutes rather than gasping 4-7-8 on a full stomach. Before sleep, 4-7-8 or coherent 5.5 for one to two cycles of four breaths is enough; more is not a contest. Pulser can sit next to this page if you want a camera or belt heart-rate snapshot before and after a session — still not a medical device, still not a diagnosis.
Pick the protocol that matches the room, sit tall, follow the timer, stop if you feel off.
Use box 4-4-4-4 when you need a square you can remember at a desk or before a hard set. Use 4-7-8 in bed or on the couch when the goal is downshift, not performance. Use coherent 5.5 when you want a sustainable five-to-ten-minute sit after lunch or as a bridge into sleep without long holds. Do not stack all three in one sitting. The timer is there so you stop negotiating the count.
A locked ribcage turns every protocol into shoulder shrugs. Uncross the legs if you are sitting; put a pillow under the knees if you are lying. Nasal inhale if you can, mouth exhale on 4-7-8 if the longer out-breath needs it. Keep the volume conversational — this is not a CO2 contest and not a breath-hold PR. If you catch yourself gasping, you picked a count that is too long for today; drop box sides from 4 to 3 rather than forcing it.
A useful desk reset is four box cycles (about 64 seconds at 4-4-4-4). A bedtime 4-7-8 block is four cycles (76 seconds of counting, plus the time you actually take). Coherent 5.5 is easier to hold for five or ten minutes because there is no hold to fail. When the timer ends, sit one quiet breath before you grab the phone. If heart rate is something you track, Pulser can take a resting snapshot — interpret trends over weeks, not one dramatic session.
Stop immediately for chest pain, fainting feeling, uncontrolled wheeze, or panic that gets worse with holds. This timer is not a treatment for asthma, arrhythmia, pregnancy complications, or trauma. People with a history of trauma sometimes find long holds activating — switch to coherent 5.5 with no holds, or stop. Children and anyone in respiratory distress need a clinician, not a browser beep. If a doctor has restricted breath-holds (for example some retinal or blood-pressure contexts), obey that restriction.
Formulas, reference tables, and practical guidance you can come back to.
The three protocols on this page are locked so a session has a name. Box 4-4-4-4 is 16 seconds per cycle: four sides of four seconds. At that pace you complete a little under four cycles per minute if you count holds as part of the cycle, which is slower than conversational breathing and faster than a sleepy 5.5. 4-7-8 is 19 seconds per cycle (4+7+8) and puts most of the time on the exhale and the post-inhale hold. Coherent 5.5 is 11 seconds per cycle with no holds — 5.5 seconds in, 5.5 out — and lands at 5.45 breaths per minute, close enough to the “5.5” label used in popular HRV writing. Pick by scene, not by which name sounds the most tactical. Desk reset: box. Lights out: 4-7-8 or coherent. Full stomach: coherent or a shorter box. Driving: none of them.
Parasympathetic talk is a direction, not a guarantee. Lengthening the exhale and slowing the rate often lowers heart rate a little in healthy people at rest; it does not “activate the vagus” like a switch and it does not prove your nervous system is healthy. Use the table as a menu. If a protocol makes you air-hungry, shorten the sides or switch to coherent. If you want a number next to the session, Pulser can log a pulse before and after — treat a 4-beat drop as noise until you see it on many evenings. Educational pacing tool, not a medical device and not treatment.
| Protocol | Cadence | Best scene |
|---|---|---|
| Box | 4-4-4-4 (16 s/cycle) | Desk reset, pre-set focus |
| 4-7-8 | 4-7-8 (19 s/cycle) | In bed, lights already down |
| Coherent 5.5 | 5.5 s in / 5.5 s out | After meals, longer sits |
| None of the above | Normal breathing | Driving, dizziness, medical red flags |
Short sessions beat heroic ones because compliance is the whole product. Four box cycles at 4-4-4-4 last 64 seconds — enough to interrupt a scroll spiral at a desk. Four 4-7-8 cycles last 76 seconds of metronome time; in bed that is a single downshift, not a forty-minute course. Coherent 5.5 is the one you can leave running for five or ten minutes without failing a hold, which is why it is the after-lunch default. Going past ten minutes rarely adds a new physiological chapter for a healthy adult; it mostly adds phone temptation. If you like numbers, repeat the same length daily for two weeks before you judge the protocol.
Stacking protocols in one block is how people get light-headed and decide “breathwork is dangerous.” Finish one menu row, stand or sit normally for thirty seconds, then decide if you still want another. After meals, cap the sit at five minutes and skip 4-7-8 if the stomach is tight. Before sleep, one row is enough; a second row is optional if you are still wired and not dizzy. Children, pregnant people without clearance, and anyone with a clinician-restricted hold should not use the hold-heavy rows. This is a browser metronome, not a course and not care.
| Goal | Protocol | Default length |
|---|---|---|
| Desk interrupt | Box 4-4-4-4 | 4 cycles / ~64 s |
| Lights out | 4-7-8 or coherent 5.5 | 4 cycles, optional second set |
| After a meal | Coherent 5.5 | 5 minutes, no long holds |
| HR snapshot (optional) | Any, then sit 60 s | Pulser after, not during |
Holds are optional flavor, not the mechanism that makes slow breathing useful. The useful parts are a slower rate and, often, a longer exhale. If you are pregnant without obstetric clearance, have uncontrolled asthma or COPD, have been told to avoid Valsalva-like efforts, or notice that holds accelerate panic, delete the holds. Coherent 5.5 remains. Box can collapse to inhale 4 / exhale 4. 4-7-8 can collapse to inhale 4 / exhale 8. None of those edits make the timer a treatment; they just remove the part that most often causes tingling hands and a scared second attempt.
Red flags that belong in a clinic, not in a FAQ, include chest pain, fainting, breathlessness at rest, coughing blood, and a first-time severe panic that does not come down when you stop the drill. Resting heart-rate trends — see the linked article on a good resting heart rate — are a longer story than one breathing session. Pulser can chart consumer pulse over days; it cannot clear you for sport or tell you why a beat was skipped. If this paragraph is the one you needed, close the timer and use the care you already have. Educational only.
| Situation | Holds? | Do this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy adult, calm room | Optional | Any of the three protocols |
| After a heavy meal | No | Coherent 5.5 for 5 min |
| Pregnancy / restricted holds | No | Clinician first, then 5.5 if cleared |
| Chest pain, faint, rest dyspnea | Stop | Urgent care, not this timer |
Quick answers about this tool and how to train with it.
Box breathing is four equal sides: inhale, hold, exhale, hold. The popular count is 4 seconds each, which is 16 seconds per cycle and about 3.75 breaths per minute if you include both holds as part of the cycle time. The point is the square, not a personal record on the hold. If 4 seconds feels long, use 3. If you are stacked after coffee, box is often easier than 4-7-8 because the exhale is not almost twice the inhale.
4-7-8 is inhale 4, hold 7, exhale 8 — 19 seconds per cycle and a deliberately long out-breath. Popular writing attributes the pattern to Andrew Weil as a sleep-downshift drill. The longer exhale is the feature; the 7-second hold is the part people fail first. If the hold spikes anxiety, skip to coherent 5.5. Do not do 4-7-8 while driving or standing on a ladder. Four cycles is a full set for most nights; repeating it ten times is how people get dizzy and blame the protocol.
Coherent breathing usually means about six breaths a minute; 5.5 is a common precise target (5.5 seconds in, 5.5 out, no holds). Research on resonance-frequency breathing discusses individual peaks often in the 4.5–6.5 breaths/min band. 5.5 is a population-friendly middle, not your personal lab peak. It is the protocol to pick when you want ten minutes without failing a hold. It is also the gentlest after-meal option on this page.
No. Slow breathing can nudge heart rate and perceived arousal in the short term. It does not treat coronary disease, diagnose arrhythmia, or replace medication for blood pressure, asthma, or panic disorder. If you have chest pain, fainting, or breathlessness at rest, you need urgent care, not a prettier inhale. Pulser’s camera or belt readings are consumer snapshots for curiosity and trends, not an ECG. When a clinician has given you a breathing or heart-rate plan, their plan wins.
After a large meal, skip long holds. Coherent 5.5 for five minutes or box at 3-3-3-3 is enough; 4-7-8 on a full stomach makes more people light-headed. Before sleep, 4-7-8 or coherent 5.5 both work if the room is already dark and the phone is not a second job. Pair either with a consistent lights-out more than with a perfect count. If you track resting heart rate, take the Pulser reading after you sit still for one minute, not while you are still climbing into bed.
More free tools that pair well with this one, plus guides and articles to go deeper.
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Pulser measures heart rate with the iPhone camera or a Bluetooth belt and charts trends — free to download, not a medical device.