How one of the 'most powerful hacks' to control stress actually works

Powerless to help after catastrophic earthquakes struck her hometown of La Guaira in Venezuela two months ago, Maria Medina struggled to sleep.

She was more than 1,500 miles away in Florida, USA - where she has lived for the last 15 years - and was racked with worry for family and friends.

"In moments where I feel that there isn't much that I can do, like lying in bed at night and staring at the ceiling... I know it's going to help me," she says.

The 31-year-old first came across box breathing in 2020. She was studying for a master's degree while working full-time and the stress of doing both became too much once the Covid pandemic hit .

The technique consists of inhaling for four seconds, holding your breath for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds and then holding for another four seconds before inhaling again and restarting the cycle, says breathwork coach Stuart Sandeman.

"Those seconds can be all sorts of lengths, but they must all remain the same," he explains. This equal four-step pattern is where the technique derives its name.

Stuart says box breathing is best used before you do something stressful or an event that might cause you to feel anxious, like an exam or presentation.

There's no set length of time to do it for. Some people feel the positive effects after just a few minutes; others prefer to do it for as long as 15.

Breathwork originated from traditional practices like yoga and has been used in other fields like martial arts for centuries, says Stuart.

But box breathing has become popular in modern times because it can "both focus the mind and allow us to balance our nervous system".

He adds: "Famously, the US Navy Seals are box breathers. They use it before going into a hostile situation."

For Maria, 31, who works as a programme manager for a tech company in the US, she does it before she goes to bed, or when trying to get back to sleep after waking up in the night.

A recent study , external from North America looking at the effectiveness of box breathing found it could prevent large increases in heart rate and other stress markers in the body among people facing high-pressure situations.

The study, published in the journal Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology in June, was undertaken by academics at Texas State University and the University of Toronto Mississauga.