Deep Breathing To Lower Blood Pressure
- Dmitri Konash
- Aug 29, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 19
How to control breathing to lower blood pressure, how to choose breathing exercises to lower blood pressure which are best for you and apps to use
If you find this post useful, please feel free to provide a link to it in your website or newsletter. Or contact us here to discuss mutually beneficial cooperation.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) over 1.3 billion people across the world suffer from high blood pressure, or hypertension [1]. The good news is that in many cases one can lower high blood pressure with deep breathing (2). This blog post explains how and when use breathing techniques to lower blood pressure.
As someone who has suffered from hypertension and fixed this condition naturally, I found that breathing therapy to lower blood pressure and heart rate really works.
What is high blood pressure?
High blood pressure is higher-than-normal force of blood against walls of blood vessel walls. It forces the heart to work harder and hence creates a risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, i.e. stroke.
According to the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology [3], the normal blood pressure is under 120/80 mm HG. People are more likely to develop hypertension if they have a family history of this condition, as they age, become overweight, lead sedentary lifestyle or feel permanently stressed out.
Some natural ways to lower risk for hypertension include managing weight, becoming physically active, eating healthy food, enjoying adequate sleep and managing stress. Getting chronic health conditions such as diabetes and high cholesterol under control is critically important. Basically all natural tools to dilate blood vessels and increase blood flow lead to lower blood pressure. Which takes us to slow breathing to lower blood pressure.
How to do deep breathing to lower blood pressure?
Slow controlled breathing is one of the best ways to lower high blood pressure. When we breathe slowly, the brain directs the body to dilate blood vessels, which increases blood flow. This leads to lower blood pressure. This article [4] provides detailed scientific explanation why breathing exercises work for high blood pressure.
Best breathing to lower blood pressure.
48 Breathing
One of the easiest and most popular breathing exercises to lower blood pressure. Inhale to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 8. If you find it difficult to maintain these intervals, you may try shorter ones. Just make sure that your exhales are 2X longer than inhales.
This ratio between inhales and exhales engages our parasympathetic nervous system and helps to dilate blood vessels. Which in turn leads to better blood flow and lower blood pressure. Breathing to lower blood pressure on YouTube? Check this popular YouTube video where I demonstrate this technique.
Balance breathing.
Works great in most situations when you have just few minutes to reduce stress, i.e. during a family argument or an important business meeting. Try to relax your face muscles and repeat 6-7 times the following breathing pattern: inhale for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds.
I personally found this exercise to work well in business meetings when I needed to calm down without attracting too much attention. The longer you breathe applying this pattern, more relaxed you become, which helps immensely to lower high blood pressure.
What is box breathing?
Box breathing is also known as square breathing or four-square breathing. The technique involves inhaling for a count of four, holding the breath for a count of four, exhaling for a count of four, and holding the breath for a count of four. Then the cycle repeats. This pattern creates a square shape, hence the name "box breathing."
The benefits of box breathing for lowering blood pressure
Box breathing has been shown to have numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. No wonder they teach breathing to the Navy Seals! One of the most significant benefits is its ability to lower blood pressure.
How to do box breathing step-by-step.
To start, find a comfortable seated position and follow these steps:
Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose for a count of four.
Hold your breath for a count of four.
Exhale slowly and completely through your mouth for a count of four.
Hold your breath for a count of four.
Repeat steps 1-4 for several minutes, focusing on the sensation of your breath and the rhythm of the counts.
Focus on the sensation of your breath as you inhale and exhale. With practice, box breathing can become a powerful tool for reducing stress and promoting relaxation. Breathing to lower blood pressure video? Here is the video with box breathing from our YouTube channel.
SIMPLE TRICK. Many people experience a “white coat syndrome” when a doctor takes their blood pressure reading. Try one of these slow breathing exercises for a few minutes before entering doctor's office.
Breathing plus walking to lower blood pressure
Once you tried deep breathing to lower blood pressure while seated, the next logical step is to expand guided breathing into other activities. For those who have a habit of walking regularly the best option is to integrate breathing into your walking routine. Combining walking, which is an aerobic exercise, and slow breathing to lower blood pressure increases positive health benefits of both activities.
I LOVE walking! It helped me to fix high blood pressure. 30min walking + breathing exercise is my key tool to relax after a busy day and enjoy recovery sleep at night. Here is how you do this exercise.
Launch this YouTube video on your phone, put on your headphones and go for a short work You will be amazed how much better you will feel after walking and doing deep breathing for blood pressure for just 10 minutes! Read on if you would like to do this exercise on your phone for a longer period of time without being online all the time.
4 Steps to make breathing to lower blood pressure a daily habit
I borrowed them from a great book, “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg. BJ Fogg is a behavioural scientist from Stanford University, who has studied the habit creation process for over 20 years. I tried these steps and they worked beautifully for me.
A. Create a basic motivation.
For me this means to have a belief that something really works. The best thing about slow breathing is that even a few minutes practice produces an objectively measurable difference. Just measure your blood pressure before and after the breathing exercise.
B. Find an anchor moment.
This is a moment which is already hard wired in your daily routine. Practicing your new habit either right before or right after an anchor moment significantly increases chances of it to stick. I usually practice slow breathing 2-3 times every day.
After lunch. Many people are a little slower at this time, as our bodies are digesting a meal. It’s a great time to sit with a straight back, close eyes for 5 min and do slow breathing.
Laying in the bed just before getting to sleep. 5-10 minutes of slow breathing does magic for me. I fall asleep quickly and enjoy a restful night
C. Make the behavior you want a tiny one.
Anyone can find 10min in a day to build a new useful habit. I provided several examples above showing that even 5 min of deep breathing at a time makes a measurable positive effect. If you have more time - great, breath slowly for 15 or 20 min. But even if you do this twice a day for 5 min, you will still see a lasting positive effect.
D. Celebrate instantly.
Do something which creates a positive emotion. Just say to yourself “I did a good job!” If you wake up fully refreshed next morning after a slow breathing exercise, it’s a great reason to celebrate, right?
Here are the most popular questions from our users related to breathing to lower blood pressure.
Are there breathing exercises to lower blood pressure?
Definitely! These exercises are 48 breathing, balance breathing, box breathing,
Best breathing to lower blood pressure
There is no single best breathing to lower blood pressure as these exercises work differently for different people. It is important to try all of these exercises measuring blood pressure before and after them and choosing the exercise which works best for you.
Breathing to lower blood pressure immediately
All the breathing exercises for blood pressure described above usually produce positive effect within few minutes. However this positive effect from one breathing exercise lasts usually from 30 minutes to 2 hours. So it is important to repeat them throughout the day. Unlike hypertension medicines slow breathing to lower blood pressure does not have negative side effects.
Breathing meditation to lower blood pressure
This is an exercise which combines positive effect of breathing to lower blood pressure and meditation to lower blood pressure. An instructor usually directs a listener to relax with verbal instructions and introduces guiding breathing exercises to lower blood pressure throughout the exercise. Here is a popular YouTube video with this type of exercise.
Best breathing apps to lower blood pressure
There are many relaxation and meditation apps with Calm and Headspace being the most popular. However if you are looking for a breathing exercises app to lower blood pressure you should consider BreathNow blood pressure app.
We created BreathNow app based on my personal experience of using breathing exercises to lower blood pressure. It is different from other breathing apps because it is made for people who are looking for breathing to lower blood pressure and includes the following tools:
Reminders to perform breathing exercises through out the day
Other techniques to lower blood pressure, i.e. meditations and easy aerobic exercises
Blood pressure tracker to track your progress in lowering blood pressure
Heart rate and HRV (Heart Rate Variability) tool to check which breathing exercises work best for you
Stress monitor which alerts you when you stress (and hence blood pressure) is up and offers you to perform a breathing exercise.
Most of the app functionality is free. Please try it and let us know how it worked for you. BreathNow is also available on Android.
