App Profile: Paced Breathing

Featured in James Nestor’s best-selling book, Breath, Paced Breathing uses visual, audio and haptic cues to guide you through your practice. Whether meditating, strengthening your lungs or simply relaxing - join the thousands who love using Paced Breathing everyday!

USES
* Relieve Stress
* Meditate — (especially good for Kundalini, Hatha, Pranayama)
* Strengthen Lungs — (improve lung capacity & aid recovery)
* Falling Asleep

FEATURES
* Adjustable timing for inhale, hold, exhale, & hold
* Heart monitoring: heart rate, HRV, & coherence
* Ramp mode: gradually change breath times
* Visual, audio, & vibrate cues
* Reminders / notifications
* Background playback
* Streaks, goals, & session tracking

HEALTH BENEFITS
Regular breathing practices have been shown to help improve your:
* Cardiovascular health [1][2][3]
* Relaxation [2]
* Stress responses [1][4][5]
* Mood [1]
* Attention [4]
* Alzheimer's risk [6]

FROM THE DEVELOPER
I’m Mihai, an engineer born in Romania & raised in Michigan. My ideal day is working on apps to help others, like Paced Breathing. Someday I hope I can work on apps like these full time! Hearing from users makes my day, so shoot me an email with requests, bugs, things you like, or just your story: [email protected]!

USER FEEDBACK
* "The best breathing app out there (I've tried 12 apps, this is the only one that works for me). I have recommended it to over 100 people over the 7 years I've been using it. I use it at least 5 x a week. Gives me instant calm" — R. Hall

* "LOVE this app. Very simple and easy to use. You can set time for inhale, exhale, and pause after each if you wish. You can watch it or listen…Thank you! Ads Not intrusive. Ads turn off when the app is active” — Denise

* "This is a wonderfully simple app. The default sound tone is just right for me and I like that I get to set the volume and it stays there whether or not the volume of the phone ring or other apps are different" — Eleanor

* "I've never written something like this in a review but... I love whoever wrote this app :-) Gets to the point in 0.2 s. No long annoying splash screens. No attempts to extort money... Super reliable, simple and 100% effective. I was looking for something that would let me take some breaks during normal meditation to do some controlled breathing, for example our most natural pattern - continuous 5.5 s inhale, 5.5 exhale. This app lets me remain in silence, fixing my rhythm by vibrations, and just... works perfect! BRAVO. A lesson to all developers how to make useful apps!" — Adam

CITATIONS
* [1] Study published in Front Public Health (2017) shows slow rhythmic breathing decreased blood pressure response to stress & improved mood: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575449
* [2] Study in PLOS ONE (2019) shows slow paced breathing can improve relaxation & cardiovascular function: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218550
* [3] Study in American Journal of Cardiology (2002) shows slow, paced breathing can significantly reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16129818/
* [4] Study in Frontiers in Psychology (2017) shows diaphragmatic breathing improves attention, reduces negative affect, & lowers stress in healthy adults: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874/full
* [5] Study in Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (2005) shows benefits of Sudarshan Kriya, a specific yogic breathing practice, in treating stress, anxiety, & depression: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2005.11.189
* [6] Study in Nature Scientific Reports (2023) shows slow paced breathing counters pathways that lead to Alzheimer’s disease: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30167-0

DISCLAIMER
App not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical conditions. Consult a healthcare professional before starting any new breathing practices, especially if you have any pre-existing health conditions