Picture this: Something stressful or upsetting just happened, and your body is reacting. Your skin is flushed, your heart is pounding, and your breaths are fast and furious. This is a typical stress response, explains Debra Kissen, PhD, a psychotherapist and founder of Light On Anxiety treatment centers. “When we’re in fight-or-flight mode, we take shorter, rapid breaths and we’re tense,” she says. 

One accessible antidote to calm both your mind and body in moments like these is something called diaphragmatic breathing, also commonly referred to as belly breathing. Belly breathing is the exact opposite of those short, tense inhales and exhales; instead, these deeper breaths are elongated and slow—and incorporating them into your daily life, regardless of whether or not you’re in a stressful situation, can have impressive benefits for your health. 

Read on to learn more about diaphragmatic breathing, plus get expert tips on how to incorporate it into your routine.

What Is Belly Breathing (aka Diaphragmatic Breathing)?

As its name suggests, diaphragmatic breathing is a type of breathwork that engages your diaphragm, the large muscle at the bottom of your lungs that helps power breathing movements. 

When you inhale very deeply, your breath drops past your chest (which is where those tense, shallower breaths land) and into your diaphragm and belly, says Peloton instructor Kirra Michel. “It’s a 3D breath, meaning it’s not just up and down,” she explains. “Rather, you’re allowing the breath to expand the diaphragm from side to side and back to front.”

Using your diaphragm in this way deepens your breath and slows your breathing rate, so you’re using less energy to get air in. What’s more, by breathing all the way into your belly, you’re gaining a better exchange of oxygen, which helps to relax your body. 

Benefits of Belly Breathing

There are some very good reasons to take more of these deep belly breaths throughout the day. 

Diaphragmatic Breathing Helps You Relax

Belly breathing’s best-known benefit is its ability to calm you down. Remember that fight-or-flight response? By breathing deeply and slowly, you’re telling your brain that your body can de-stress: “You’re saying, ‘See, I’m taking this long, open breath, everything must be OK,’” Kissen explains. It’s a great way to “signal to the brain that the coast is clear,” she adds.

Lots of research backs this up: A 2019 quantitative systematic review, for example, found that diaphragmatic breathing reduces stress by improving a number of physiologic biomarkers, including respiratory rate and salivary cortisol levels. In another study published in 2017, researchers observed that belly breathing may help improve cognitive performance and reduce negative consequences of stress in healthy adults.

It Provides Immediate Physical Benefits

Belly breathing can help you feel relaxed and at ease in the moment, but it’s also enacting real, physical changes in your body. You’re calmer when you take those deep breaths in part because you’re getting more oxygen through your lungs, using them at 100 percent capacity, the Cleveland Clinic notes. “Belly breathing allows for a fuller oxygen exchange,” Kirra says. 

This, in turn, allows your heart rate to slow and your blood pressure to stabilize. A 2021 literature review even found that prehypertensive or hypertensive adults who practiced deep breathing 10 minutes twice a day for a month experienced a range of positive results, including reduced heart rate and blood pressure. 

Over Time, It May Benefit Your Mental Health

Research suggests that a mindful breathing habit (such as belly breathing or another conscious form of breath control) promotes better mental wellbeing too. A 2023 meta-analysis published in the journal Nature identified significant “small-medium” improvements in participants who had a breathwork practice. They reported lower levels of subjective stress, anxiety, and depression compared to those who didn’t practice deep breathing—though researchers noted that more studies are needed.

It Can Benefit a Number of Physical Health Conditions 

Deep breathing on its own won’t cure a medical condition, but research does suggest that breathwork may support an overall healthy lifestyle and possibly ease some associated symptoms for a variety of health conditions. 

For example, studies have found that diaphragmatic breathing may improve symptoms for people with hypertension (high blood pressure) and prehypertension, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and even a gastroesophageal reflux-induced chronic cough. (As always, talk to your healthcare provider to see if belly breathing might be right for you.)

It Empowers You to Take Control of Big Emotions

Finally, breathing can seem like a simple skill, but mastering it gives you the tools to help manage your emotions during tough situations. 

“Learning to cultivate our breath gives us access to an internal power that can help us regulate,” Kirra says. “And we get to learn more about ourselves and how our breath connects to our bodies and mind.”

How to Practice Belly Breathing

Ready to breathe big? Here’s how to start practicing diaphragmatic breathing, according to experts.

1. First, Pay Attention to Your Natural Breath

Start by sitting or standing tall so you’re not compressing your diaphragm. Then, rather than immediately trying to manipulate your breath, take a minute to understand where in your body you’re breathing right now, Kissen says. To do that, pay attention to where there’s movement in your body: Is your chest going up and down? (This would suggest you’re experiencing shallower breaths.) Or is your breath currently extending down to your belly?

2. Deepen Your Inhales

Once you’ve found your natural breath, see if you can slowly, gently extend it: As you slowly inhale through your nose, allow the breath to fall into your diaphragm. Next, see if you can get that breath to go even deeper. 

You might find it helpful to place a hand on your belly while taking these big inhales, Kirra adds—you’ll then notice your hand beginning to rise as your belly expands with air. 

3. Breathe Out

On the exhale, slowly and fully release all air through pursed lips. “Then, place your hands on either side of your rib cage and with the next inhale, feel your ribs expand into your hands, showing the breath is moving laterally,” Kirra says. 

Once you’ve got the technique down, let those deep inhales and exhales continue, all while you continue to observe your breath and let the air come in slowly without rushing. 

Need a visual to help things click? Think of belly breathing as slowly, mindfully sipping a beverage rather than chugging it down, Kissen says.

Tips for Adding Belly Breathing to Your Routine

Belly breathing sounds doable enough, but actually finding the time and space to incorporate it into a busy routine can be a little trickier. And practicing is important, Kissen says, since you otherwise may feel unprepared in those moments when your anxiety spikes (think: during a disagreement with your partner or in a big work meeting). “If you haven’t practiced activating this relaxation response, it’s a lot harder to do it at the time that you need it most,” she says.

Here’s how experts suggest fitting a belly breathing practice in:

The Takeaway

Belly breathing helps your whole body relax. By inhaling and exhaling slowly and allowing your breath to flow into your diaphragm and belly, you’re alerting your brain that it’s OK to be calm. In turn, your blood pressure and heart rate settle, and you’re able to tap into a greater flow of oxygen. 

“I practice diaphragmatic breathing as frequently as I can remember,” Kirra says. “It is easier when I’m in a yoga or meditation class because we’re often being reminded to breathe consciously, though I try to bring it into my day as often as possible.”