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Brain exercise

Change Your Own State in Ninety Seconds

Every other activity here shows you something. This one lets you do something, and it is the only one you can take away with you.

Slow, even breathing with a longer out-breath than in-breath is the most reliably useful thing on this website. It is also the least impressive looking. Follow the circle for about ninety seconds.

What just happened

Why this one is different from the others

  • The out-breath is the active partYour heart rate rises slightly as you breathe in and falls as you breathe out. Lengthening the out-breath extends the falling phase, which is why the pattern is not symmetrical.
  • You are using a physical route, not a mental oneThis works through the vagus nerve and baroreceptors rather than through persuading yourself to feel calm, which is why it works even when you are skeptical about it.
  • It is a skill, not a trickThe effect is modest on the first go and more reliable with practice, in the same way that any physical skill is.
Diagram from Chicago Brain Health showing heart rate rising during the in-breath and falling during the longer out-breath, which is why a paced breathing pattern is not symmetrical.
The out-breath is the part that does the settling

Everything else in this section is a demonstration of a limitation. This is a demonstration of a capability, and it is the closest thing here to what neurofeedback training is actually trying to teach: noticing your own state and having some influence over it.

Slow paced breathing at roughly six breaths a minute has a reasonable evidence base for short-term reductions in physiological arousal. That is a real but modest claim, and it is the one we will make.

A quick note. If you feel light-headed, stop and breathe normally. Anyone with a respiratory or cardiac condition, or who is pregnant, should check with their own clinician before practicing breathing exercises deliberately.

Square illustration from Chicago Brain Health of concentric rings in blue, gold and green representing the in-breath, hold and out-breath phases of a breathing pacer.
In, hold, out, with the out-breath given the most room

Science vs hype

What this does not mean

What you may have seen. Breathing patterns marketed as treatments for anxiety disorders, depression, ADHD or trauma, often with a branded name and a course attached.

What this activity actually involves. A paced breathing pattern at roughly six breaths per minute. This page gives you the pacing and gets out of the way.

Where the evidence stops. There is reasonable evidence that slow paced breathing reduces physiological arousal in the short term. There is much weaker evidence that it treats any diagnosed condition, and it is not a substitute for treatment where treatment is indicated. If your anxiety is at the level where it is shaping your life, breathing exercises are a useful tool alongside proper care rather than instead of it.

A person sitting on the edge of a bed in morning light, eyes closed, breathing slowly
Ninety seconds you can take anywhere

Who Can Use This One

  • Vision is helpful but not essential. The pattern is four seconds in, two second hold, six seconds out, and can be followed by counting alone.
  • Stop if you feel light-headed. There is a stop button and no penalty for using it.
  • Nothing flashes. The circle expands and contracts slowly and honours reduced-motion settings.
  • Nothing is recorded. No account, no score stored, nothing sent anywhere.

This Is the One We Would Actually Prescribe

You just changed your own physiological state on purpose. That is a real skill and you already have it.

What a course of neurofeedback tries to build is a version of the same thing at a level you cannot consciously reach: noticing a state and shifting it. If this felt like it did something, that is a reasonable sign the underlying idea is worth exploring for you.

That conversation is free, and we will tell you honestly whether training or an assessment makes more sense first.

If you would rather read first, our conditions page sets out what neurofeedback is used for and how strong the evidence is for each, and our research page covers what the studies actually found, including the ones that came out negative.

Let’s chat

A free conversation with a psychologist. No intake form, no obligation, and we will tell you plainly when the answer is that you do not need us.

These activities are demonstrations of how perception, attention, memory and movement work. They are not tests, screenings or diagnostic tools, and no result here says anything about whether you have a medical or psychological condition. Nothing on this page is medical advice or a substitute for evaluation by a qualified professional. Last reviewed September 2026.