Pulse and breathing reset
Your pulse from your camera, a few minutes of guided slow breathing, then your pulse again.
How to do it
- Sit somewhere comfortable, facing a window or lamp so your face is evenly lit.
- Read your pulse with the front camera, keeping still for 30 seconds. On a phone you can use a fingertip over the back camera instead.
- Follow the circle: slow breathing (in for 4, out for 6) or the cyclic sigh (two breaths in through the nose, then a long breath out), for 1 to 5 minutes.
- Read your pulse again to see how it moved.
Your result
- Pulse
- Breathe
- Pulse again
Nothing you enter leaves this page unless you save your result.
What the research found
Across 12 randomized trials with 785 adults, breathing exercises lowered self-reported stress by a small to moderate amount compared with no breathing practice. In a month-long Stanford trial, five minutes a day of cyclic sighing improved mood and slowed breathing more than the same time spent in mindfulness meditation. A review of 223 studies found slow breathing raises heart rate variability, a sign of the calming branch of the nervous system, during and just after a session. Camera pulse readings at rest have come within about a beat a minute of an ECG, though they are less accurate after moving or in poor light. A single pulse reading isn't a measure of stress.
Studied in: 12 trials of breathing exercises with 785 adults; camera pulse checked against ECG.
- Fincham GW et al. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):432. PubMed
- Balban MY et al. Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Rep Med. 2023;4(1):100895. PubMed
- Laborde S et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;138:104711. PubMed
- Yan BP et al. Resting and postexercise heart rate detection from fingertip and facial photoplethysmography using a smartphone camera: a validation study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2017;5(3):e33. PubMed