A Simple Breathing Trick That Can Help Calm Your Stress Response

When you’re stressed, your body often reacts before you’ve had time to talk yourself down. Your heart beats faster, your breathing gets shorter, and you can feel physically wound up even when you know there’s no actual danger.

One surprisingly simple way to interrupt that response is to change the way you’re breathing.

Why Your Breathing Matters

Breathing is closely connected to your autonomic nervous system, which helps regulate things like heart rate, digestion, and your body’s response to stress.

Slow, controlled breathing can help shift the body toward its parasympathetic, or “rest and digest,” state. That’s also where the vagus nerve comes in. This nerve helps carry signals between the brain and organs including the heart, lungs, and digestive system and plays an important role in helping the body settle after stress.

The good news is that you don’t need to learn a complicated breathing practice to take advantage of it.

Try the Physiological Sigh

One of the simplest techniques is known as the physiological sigh.

Take one inhale through your nose, followed by a second, shorter inhale. Then slowly exhale through your mouth.

Andrew Huberman has discussed this technique, which has also been studied by Stanford researchers. In one study, people who practiced five minutes of controlled breathing each day experienced improvements in mood, and the breathing practice that emphasized longer exhales performed particularly well.

You don’t necessarily need five minutes when you’re in the middle of a stressful situation, either. A few slow breaths can be an easy way to focus on something physical when your thoughts are racing.

Make Your Exhale Longer

There’s an even easier version to remember: slow down your breathing and spend a little more time exhaling than inhaling.

Try breathing in gently through your nose and then letting the breath out slowly. Repeat several times without forcing yourself to take unusually large breaths.

You can do it before a stressful meeting, after an upsetting conversation, while sitting in traffic, or when you’re lying in bed and can’t seem to wind down.

Keep It Simple

You may have seen advice about “stimulating” or “resetting” your vagus nerve with cold showers, humming, gargling, or other tricks. You don’t need to do any of that to start using your breath as a stress-management tool.

Regular exercise, good sleep, social connection, and other everyday habits still matter for managing stress over time. Breathing is simply something you can reach for when you need help calming down in the moment.

The next time you notice your body getting tense, start there: one inhale, a second small inhale, and a long, slow exhale. Sometimes giving your body a signal to slow down makes it easier for your mind to follow.