Alternate nostril breathing: how to do it
Alternate nostril breathing comes from yoga, where it is called nadi shodhana. You breathe in through one nostril and out through the other, closing them in turn with your fingers. It is slow, calm and needs your full attention.
In short
- Close your right nostril with your right thumb, breathe in through the left, switch, and breathe out through the right. Then in through the right, switch, out through the left.
- About five minutes a day is enough. It may make you more alert, so it is better earlier in the day than right before bed.
- Studies, mostly small and in healthy young men, link it to lower blood pressure during practice. Results on anxiety are mixed.
- Your nose already alternates on its own: one side usually lets more air through than the other, and this switches over the day.
How to do it
Sit upright and comfortably. Use your right hand: your thumb closes the right nostril and your index finger closes the left.
- Breathe out fully.
- Close your right nostril with your thumb and breathe in slowly through the left.
- Close both nostrils for a moment, a beat or two.
- Open the right side and breathe out through the right.
- Breathe in through the right.
- Close it, pause for a beat, then open the left and breathe out through the left.
That is one round. Repeat for about five minutes.
Keep the breath slow, quiet and comfortable. If your nose is blocked on one side, this exercise is hard to do well; ordinary slow breathing is a fine alternative.
When to do it
Cleveland Clinic suggests about five minutes a day. Because it can make you more alert, it advises against doing it right before bed. For sleep, slower rhythms such as slow 4-6 or 4-7-8 are a better fit: see breathing to fall asleep.
Your nose already alternates
Most of the time, one side of your nose lets more air through than the other. Blood vessels inside the nose swell and shrink in turn, so the open side slowly switches over. This is called the nasal cycle. In one study that recorded 33 adults for 24 hours, a cycle lasted about 2 hours on average while awake and about 4.5 hours during sleep. Not everyone shows a clear cycle.
What the research shows
There are quite a few studies, but most are small, many come from the same research groups, and the participants were mostly healthy young men in India.
- Blood pressure. A 2024 review pooled 6 trials with 525 people and found that alternate nostril breathing lowered blood pressure, on average by about 7 points systolic and 5 diastolic. The trials differed a lot from each other, most were not blinded, and some combined the breathing with yoga.
- During practice. In small studies of healthy men, 15 minutes of alternate nostril breathing lowered systolic blood pressure. In one, attention scores also improved, but they improved after simply sitting quietly too.
- Anxiety. The results disagree. In one study of 50 men, alternate nostril breathing did not reduce anxiety, while simple breath awareness did. In another, with 38 men who practised yoga, it did reduce anxiety. A 2021 review concluded that it may reduce stress and is low risk.
So it is a calm, low-risk practice that may lower blood pressure a little while you do it. It is not a treatment for high blood pressure or anxiety.
Common mistakes
- Doing it right before bed. It can make you more alert; for sleep, try slow 4-6 or 4-7-8 instead.
- Breathing fast or forcefully through one nostril. Keep the breath slow and quiet.
- Pressing hard on the nose. A light touch is enough to close a nostril.
- Holding the breath for long. A pause of a beat or two between sides is enough.
More guides
- Belly breathing: how to do diaphragmatic breathing
- Humming breath (bhramari): how to do it, what is known
- Pursed-lip breathing: how and when to use it
Sources
- Cleveland Clinic: How and why to try alternate nostril breathing
- Nam et al. (2024): meta-analysis of alternate nostril breathing and blood pressure. Complementary Medicine Research
- Telles et al. (2017): alternate nostril breathing, blood pressure and attention in 15 healthy men. Medical Science Monitor Basic Research
- Telles et al. (2019): alternate nostril breathing, breath awareness and state anxiety in 50 men. Medical Science Monitor Basic Research
- Sharma, Kala and Telles (2022): randomised crossover study of yoga breathing, attention and anxiety. Complementary Medicine Research
- Rung et al. (2021): systematic review of alternate nostril breathing and stress. Journal of Holistic Nursing
- Eccles (2000): the nasal cycle and nasal airflow. Acta Oto-Rhino-Laryngologica Belgica
- Kahana-Zweig et al. (2016): Measuring and characterizing the human nasal cycle. PLoS One
These guides explain, they do not diagnose or treat. If your symptoms are new, severe or worrying, talk to a doctor. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (112 anywhere in the EU).