Breathing Timer

A guided breathing pacer: pick Box, 4-7-8, Calm or your own seconds and follow one circle expand and contract through each inhale, hold and exhale.

The pacer runs entirely in your browser — no account, no tracking, and it works with no network at all.

blank keeps going
—
—

If you feel dizzy, lightheaded or unwell, stop and breathe normally. This pacer is a relaxation aid for general wellness, not a treatment for any medical or mental health condition.

How It Works

The circle does the counting for you: it expands smoothly during your inhale, holds at full size, contracts during the exhale and rests at the bottom, while the number in the middle ticks down the seconds left in the current phase. The animation is driven by requestAnimationFrame, so it moves in step with your screen's refresh rather than with a JavaScript timer, and the elapsed time is derived from timestamps — throttled or delayed frames stretch the animation, they never shift the phase boundaries.

Why the long, slow exhale
Patterns where the out-breath is longer than the in-breath (4-7-8, Calm 4-2-6) are the ones people most often describe as settling: many guides frame the slow exhale as the leg of the breath that encourages the body's 'rest and digest' side to take over. This page makes no medical claim about it — the practical fact is simply that a longer out-breath is hard to do fast, and slow breathing tends to feel calm.
The three built-in patterns
Box (4-4-4-4) is the balanced one: equal in, hold, out, hold — steady and easy to memorise, popular for focus. 4-7-8 is the classic relaxing rhythm with a long hold and a long exhale. Calm (4-2-6) keeps the exhale dominant but trims the top hold, which many people find the fidgety part. Custom lets you set every phase between 1 and 12 seconds; a 0-second hold is not offered on purpose — remove it by choosing another pattern.
Why it runs silent
There are no tones, chimes or spoken cues — a full-screen animation with no sound is easier to run next to a sleeping partner or without headphones, and it keeps this page free of the audio-clock machinery that the site's metronome needs. Blank cycles field means no target: it keeps going until you press stop.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can paced breathing help with anxiety?

Many people find slow, counted breathing calming in stressful moments, and this pacer can make that rhythm easier to keep. It is a relaxation aid, not a treatment: if anxiety is persistent or interfering with daily life, a doctor or mental-health professional is the right call, and nothing on this page replaces that conversation.

I felt dizzy while using it — is that normal?

It happens, usually when the real breathing runs ahead of the circle — over-breathing rather than slowing down. Stop immediately, let your breathing return to its own pace, and try again with shorter counts. If dizziness feels strong or keeps returning, skip long holds and keep sessions gentle; persistent symptoms are a reason to talk to a clinician.

How long should I use it each day?

There is no official dosage. For general wellness, people commonly start with a few minutes — three or four cycles is plenty for a first session — and extend from there if it feels helpful. Consistency in calm moments matters more than length in stressful ones: the rhythm becomes familiar faster when you practise before you need it.

Is it suitable for children?

Yes, with an adult nearby. Kids tend to do well with the Box pattern or a custom one of 3–4 second counts, framed as a game — 'inflate the balloon, hold it, let the air out'. Keep the counts small, never force holds, and stop if your child feels odd or bored; bored is fine, odd means stop.

Is anything uploaded to a server?

No. The whole pacer is a requestAnimationFrame loop resizing a circle in your browser — no audio files, no accounts, no tracking, no network requests. Session length is never stored, and the tool still works with your device offline.