ZenGamer

Tool takes 2–10 min

Heart rate breathing

Breathe slowly and watch your heart rate rise and fall with each breath. Your phone camera or a chest strap measures it.

–heart rate

–rise and fall with each breath

Your heart rate over the last minute

Breathing works on its own. To see your heart rate too, measure it below.

Camera: cover the back camera, and the light next to it, with a fingertip. Rest your hand on something and press lightly. Works best on a phone.

Settings

The guide breathes 5.5 times a minute: in for 5.5 seconds, out for 5.5. If that feels too slow, stop and breathe your own way. Don't force it.

Your camera picture never leaves this device and isn't recorded: each frame is turned into one colour reading and thrown away. This is not a medical device. Don't use it to check your heart.

How to use it

  1. Sit comfortably and press Start breathing. Follow the shape: in as it grows, out as it shrinks.
  2. Optional: tap "Measure with the camera" and cover the back camera with a fingertip, or connect a Bluetooth chest strap.
  3. After a minute or so, watch the line. When you breathe slowly, heart rate tends to rise as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out.
  4. The "rise and fall" number shows how big that wave is. Don't chase it: just breathe slowly and evenly.

Why it works

This is a simple form of heart rate variability biofeedback. A review of 58 controlled studies found it had small to moderate benefits, with the largest for anxiety, low mood, anger and performance. The authors call it a useful complement to other care, and say more research is needed (Lehrer et al., 2020).

Breathing at about six breaths a minute makes heart rate swing most with each breath in most people, and is the rate where most studies see the biggest effect (Lehrer & Gevirtz, 2014).

Phone cameras can pick up your pulse from a fingertip. In a study of 40 healthy adults it matched an ECG closely at rest (Yan et al., 2017). Ours is a home-made reading, so treat the numbers as a rough guide.

When to use it

  • Before a match, a test or anything that makes your heart race.
  • After a loss, when you feel wound up.
  • As a daily habit: five minutes, once a day.

If you feel dizzy or light-headed, stop and breathe normally. If you have a heart condition, ask your doctor before doing breathing exercises.

More tools

Not medical advice. This is a wellbeing tool, not a treatment. If things feel heavy, talk to someone.