Breathing and stress at work: what helps

How common it is

The WHO describes stress as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. At work it is widespread. Worldwide, depression and anxiety cost an estimated 12 billion working days a year, around a trillion US dollars in lost productivity. In Great Britain alone, 964,000 workers had work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, and 22.1 million working days were lost to it, more than half of all work-related ill health.

Where work stress comes from

The causes are mostly in the work itself. The WHO lists excessive workload or pace, understaffing, little control over how you work, long or inflexible hours, job insecurity and poor support. In Britain, the most common causes reported are workload and a lack of support from managers.

The UK Health and Safety Executive asks employers to assess six areas: the demands of the job, how much control people have, the support they get, relationships at work, how clear their role is and how change is managed. Employers have a legal duty to protect workers from stress. The EU’s safety agency puts it plainly: stress at work is an organisational issue, not an individual fault.

What breathing can do

Breathing will not fix a broken workload, but it can help you get through a demanding day and recover between hard moments:

• Less stress, a little. A 2023 review of 12 randomised trials with 785 adults found that breathing exercises lowered self-reported stress compared with control groups. The effect was small, and the authors urge caution about the hype.
• Faster recovery. In a lab study, 75 full-time employees did a stressful task and then either 5 minutes of guided slow breathing, a body scan or nothing special. Heart rate variability, a sign of recovery, bounced back better after the breathing. It was a single session, and some of the authors worked for the company that made the breathing app.
• Breaks work too. A review of studies on breaks of 10 minutes or less found that they made people feel more energetic and less tired. On average they did not change how well people performed. None of those breaks were breathing breaks: they were stretching, exercise, relaxation or music.

Breathing during the workday

• After a hard email or call: take three slow, controlled belly breaths, as Harvard Health suggests. See belly breathing.
• Before a meeting or presentation: a minute or two of box breathing, four counts in, hold, out, hold, gives your mind one simple thing to follow.
• Once a day: do the NHS 5-5 exercise for at least 5 minutes, in through the nose for five counts and out through the mouth for five. You can do it anywhere, including at your desk.
• When your body feels wound up: a few physiological sighs, two breaths in and one long breath out.
• Take real breaks: stand up, stretch or walk for a few minutes. A short walking meditation combines both.

Beyond breathing

The NHS suggests other ways to manage stress: be active, take control of what you can, connect with people including colleagues, work smarter by prioritising and leaving the least important tasks to last, and accept what you cannot change. Exercise will not make stress disappear, but it helps.

Talk to your manager early: the earlier a problem is tackled, the less impact it has. If stress is affecting your sleep, mood or health and you are struggling to cope, talk to a doctor. If anxiety turns into panic, see breathing for anxiety and panic.