When I added the stress rating survey to the breathing exercise, I asked users to rate their stress from 1 to 10 before starting and again after they stopped. Two questions, completely anonymous. As of 8th June 2026, here is what 30 responses are showing.
The numbers
The average stress rating before the exercise is 5.86 out of 10. After the exercise, it drops to 3.43 out of 10 — a reduction of 2.43 points, which represents a 41.5% decrease in self-reported stress from a single short breathing session.
That is a 41.5% average reduction in stress — from a breathing exercise that takes under three minutes and requires nothing except your breath.
Why does this actually happen?
The results make complete neurological sense once you understand what the 4-4-4 breathing technique is actually doing to your body.
When you're stressed, your sympathetic nervous system is in charge — this is your fight-or-flight mode. Your heart rate increases, cortisol floods your bloodstream, your muscles tense, and your prefrontal cortex (the thinking, reasoning part of your brain) gets partially shut down in favour of survival responses. This is why stress feels so physically overwhelming and why your thoughts race or go blank.
Controlled breathing — specifically the slow, deliberate pattern of inhaling for 4 counts, holding for 4, and exhaling for 4 — directly activates your vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the main highway of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the body's counterbalance to fight-or-flight. When you stimulate it through slow, deep breathing, it sends a signal to your brain that the threat has passed.
The exhale phase is particularly powerful. A long, slow exhale specifically activates the baroreceptors in your heart and aorta, which signal to your brain to lower your heart rate. This is called the respiratory sinus arrhythmia — your heart rate naturally slows during exhalation. When you deliberately extend that exhale, you're amplifying that effect.
Within a few breath cycles, your cortisol levels begin to drop, your heart rate slows, your muscles start to release tension, and your prefrontal cortex comes back online. This is why the data shows the drop happening even in people who only completed two or three cycles before stopping — the physiological effect begins almost immediately.
"A 41.5% average reduction in self-reported stress from under three minutes of breathing. That is the vagus nerve doing exactly what it was designed to do."
The hold phase — why it matters
The 4-count hold between inhale and exhale isn't just a pause. Breath retention, even briefly, increases carbon dioxide levels in the blood slightly, which triggers your blood vessels to dilate and increases oxygen delivery to the brain. It also gives your nervous system a moment of stillness between the two active phases — a kind of neurological reset before the exhale begins.
This is why the 4-4-4 pattern is specifically effective rather than just breathing slowly in general. The structure — inhale, hold, exhale — creates a rhythmic pattern that your nervous system can synchronise to, which deepens the calming effect over repeated cycles.
Thank you — and a note on what's coming
To everyone who has used the breathing exercise and taken the time to rate their stress before and after — thank you genuinely. You are contributing to something real. Every response adds to the picture of whether this tool is actually doing what it was built to do.
If you haven't contributed yet, I'd love for you to. It takes under 3 minutes and you can find the exercise right on the Exhale homepage. Rate your stress before you start and again when you stop — that's all it takes.
As the dataset grows, I'll be posting updated findings here on the blog — looking at patterns across larger groups, different stress starting points, and how the number of cycles affects the outcome. Watch this space.