Deep breathing makes my anxiety worse. Why?

“Just take a deep breath.” It’s the most common advice for anxiety. So it can be confusing, and even scary, when deep breathing leaves you dizzier, tinglier and more panicky than before.

If that’s happened to you, you’re not broken and you’re not doing it wrong. There are good reasons deep breathing can backfire, and a simple fix.

Why deep breathing can make anxiety worse

You’re overbreathing

When people hear “deep breath”, they often take big, fast gulps of air. If you’re already anxious and breathing quickly, adding big breaths means you breathe out more carbon dioxide than your body needs. That lowers the carbon dioxide in your blood, which can cause:

• dizziness or light-headedness
• tingling in your hands, feet or around your mouth
• a tight chest
• feeling like you can’t get enough air

Those feelings are easy to read as danger, and the panic grows.

You’re focusing on your breath too hard

Paying close attention to your breathing can make you more aware of every sensation in your chest, and of how strange breathing feels when you’re anxious. For some people, especially those who get stuck noticing their breath, breathing exercises can make that awareness worse. Our post on manual breathing explains this.

It feels like a test

If you expect a breathing exercise to fix your anxiety straight away, and it doesn’t, that can feel like failure, and add to the worry.

The holds are too long

Exercises with long breath holds, like 4-7-8 breathing, can feel uncomfortable or even scary when you’re already short of breath.

What to do instead

Breathe slow and gentle, not deep

Breathe in softly through your nose, a normal-sized breath, for a count of about 4. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth for about 6, as if blowing through a straw. The longer out-breath is what calms your body, not the size of the in-breath.

Make it shorter, or easier

Try in for 3 and out for 4. Or simply make each out-breath a little longer than the in-breath. You don’t need to count perfectly.

Skip the holds

If holding your breath feels uncomfortable, use a rhythm without holds, like in for 4 and out for 6.

Switch to grounding

If any focus on your breath makes things worse, leave it alone. Name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell and 1 you can taste. Your breathing will settle by itself as your anxiety comes down.

Practise when you’re calm

Breathing exercises feel more natural, and work better, when you’ve practised them on calm days first.

Why doesn’t breathing help my anxiety?

Sometimes breathing helps a little, but not enough. That’s normal. Breathing is one tool, not a cure. If anxiety is with you most days, or panic keeps coming back, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) tackles the anxiety itself, not just the symptoms. Our guide to anxiety and panic attacks explains what helps.

How Breatheasy can help

Breatheasy guides you through gentle, slow breathing, rather than big deep breaths. Its Calm rhythm, in for 4 and out for 6, has no holds, and your phone pulses as you breathe in, so you don’t have to count or think too hard about it. If breathing isn’t helping in the moment, the panic button also walks you through grounding with 5-4-3-2-1. Breatheasy is coming soon to iPhone and Android.

When to get help

See a doctor if you often feel short of breath, or if breathing exercises regularly bring on panic. Call 911 if you’re struggling to breathe, have chest pain that spreads to your arm, jaw, neck or back, or your lips turn blue or grey.

Sources

• Breathing exercises for stress, NHS
• Russo, Santarelli and O’Rourke (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe.
• Balban et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine.