4-7-8 breathing app
Four seconds in. Seven held. Eight out. Refresher runs the count so you don't have to, holds the seven for the full seven, and reads your heart rate at both ends on Apple Watch.
Refresher is a 4-7-8 breathing app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. It paces the pattern visually: four seconds in, seven held, eight out, with the phases fixed and the round count yours, from 1 to 200. 4-7-8 is free from the first session. With an Apple Watch, each session opens and closes with a heart rate reading.
What 4-7-8 breathing is
4-7-8 breathing is one pattern: inhale through the nose for four seconds, hold for seven, exhale through the mouth for eight. The Cleveland Clinic says Dr. Andrew Weil popularized it, with older roots in pranayama, and describes the tongue resting against the back of the top teeth throughout, with the exhale pursed enough to make a soft whoosh.
The shape of it is what matters. The exhale is twice the inhale, and the hold is longer than either. That's a long time with the lungs full, and it's why 4-7-8 feels slower than its 19-second round suggests. Box breathing, by comparison, holds twice but only for four.
The Cleveland Clinic suggests three cycles twice a day and warns that beginners may feel a little lightheaded or short of breath at first. Both of those point the same way: keep the count honest and the rounds few, and add rounds once the seven stops feeling long.
How Refresher runs 4-7-8
One shape expands for four seconds, holds for seven, and contracts for eight. The hold is the part people shorten when counting in their head. The app doesn't, in any round. A voice can count the phases in your language, or you can switch it off and follow the shape.
The phases don't move. What you set is the round count, 1 to 200 or infinite. If you're new, set it to four and let the app finish for you.
On Apple Watch the session runs on the wrist, and with heart rate tracking switched on the app keeps the first heart rate reading of the session and the last. The difference is on the completion screen and in your history. Without a clean reading at both ends it leaves the row out rather than guess.
When to reach for it
At night, mostly. The Cleveland Clinic associates 4-7-8 with better sleep, and the long exhale is why it's the pattern people learn for that. A 19-second round with a seven-second hold is a slow thing to do before a meeting; box, with its four-second phases, is the daytime one.
If the seven feels too long at first, run fewer rounds and keep the hold. The app will run four rounds in 76 seconds. Two minutes is the span it's built around.
How to do 4-7-8 breathing with a pacer
One round of 4-7-8 is 19 seconds. Refresher times each phase and counts the rounds; four rounds is 76 seconds, the default 16 is 5:04.
- 1 Rest the tongue
Tip of the tongue against the back of the top front teeth, and keep it there for the whole session.
- 2 Inhale · 4s
In through the nose while the pacer expands. Quietly.
- 3 Hold · 7s
Lungs full while the pacer holds still. The pacer doesn't move until the seven is up.
- 4 Exhale · 8s
Out through the mouth as the pacer contracts, lips slightly pursed. Eight seconds, with a soft whoosh if you like.
- 5 Repeat, then read
Four rounds if you're new, more when it feels easy. On Apple Watch, the heart rate before and after is on the completion screen.
What people ask.
What is the 4-7-8 breathing method?
A single pattern popularized by Dr. Andrew Weil: inhale through the nose for four seconds, hold for seven, exhale through the mouth for eight, with the tongue resting behind the top front teeth. One round is 19 seconds. Refresher paces it and keeps the phases fixed.
Does the 4-7-8 breathing method work?
The Cleveland Clinic associates it with better sleep and reduced anxiety, and notes that beginners may feel lightheaded at first. Refresher is a pacer and makes no medical claim. What it can show is your heart rate before and after a session on Apple Watch, so you can see what it does for you.
How many times a day should I do 4-7-8 breathing?
The Cleveland Clinic suggests three cycles twice a day. In Refresher, set the round count to three or four; four rounds runs 76 seconds. The default of 16 rounds is a five-minute session for once the count feels natural.
Can I change the 4-7-8 timings in the app?
No, and that's deliberate. The 4:7:8 ratio is the technique, so the phases stay at four, seven and eight. You set the round count, from 1 to 200 or infinite. If you want your own ratio, Builder is a separate Premium technique built for that.
What is the best breathing app for 4-7-8?
The one that holds the seven-second phase to the second and doesn't ask you to count. That's the whole job for a fixed-ratio pattern. Refresher does that on iPhone and Apple Watch, adds heart rate before and after on the Watch, and keeps 4-7-8 free without a level gate.
Is 4-7-8 breathing free in Refresher?
Yes. 4-7-8, box, coherent, Wim Hof and the timer are there from the first session with no gate. Premium adds Builder and Wim Hof tuning, and keeps the coherent pace slider after your first five free sessions, with a 7-day free trial. The App Store shows the price for your country.
- health.clevelandclinic.org/4-7-8-breathing the 4-7-8 sequence and its attribution to Dr. Andrew Weil, nose in and mouth out with a whoosh, tongue placement, three cycles twice a day, the lightheadedness caution, and the association with sleep and reduced anxiety
Set the rounds. The pacer does the rest.
Pick 4-7-8, choose four rounds, and put the phone down. Sixteen is there for when four feels short.
Download on the App Store