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We don't know yet whether breathing exercises for teens lower exam stress. The one school pilot I found, with 43 high school students, showed the practice was easy to do but found no change in anxiety scores. Related school mindfulness programmes show small-to-moderate benefits for stress, with big caveats. A short, gentle exercise with a trusted adult is low risk for most young people, but it is no substitute for support if a teen is struggling.
Keep it gentle: no breath holds, no fast or forced breathing, and let the young person stop at any time. Check with a doctor first if they have asthma or another lung or heart condition, epilepsy, or a history of fainting. If anxiety or low mood is severe, lasts, or gets in the way of daily life, the NHS advises seeing a GP. More in who should not do breathwork.
It's the night before a big exam. Your teen can't switch their brain off, and you'd love to hand them something simple. "Just take some deep breaths" is the classic advice. Is there anything behind it?
This post is for parents, teachers and older teens. Most breathing research is on adults, so I'll be clear about what was studied in young people and what wasn't.
Try it now: a gentle 5-minute breathing exercise for teens
This is a practical suggestion based on the NHS breathing exercise for stress, not a proven protocol (NHS).
- Sit comfortably with feet on the floor, in a chair that supports the back.
- Breathe in gently through the nose. Count slowly from 1 to 5 if that helps. You may not reach 5 at first.
- Breathe out gently, counting again if you like. The out-breath can be a little longer, but never forced.
- Keep going for about 5 minutes. Shorter is fine to start.
- Stop if there is dizziness, tingling or discomfort, and go back to normal breathing.
Let the teen choose whether to try it. If they're younger or anxious, stay nearby. Skip nose-only breathing if it feels hard, and don't turn it into another thing to do perfectly.
Do breathing exercises help teens with exam stress?
Honestly, nobody knows yet. Here is what the research does and doesn't tell us.
Almost all breathwork trials are in adults. The big 2023 breathwork review included only adults (Fincham et al. 2023). A 2018 review of slow breathing left out anyone under 18 (Zaccaro et al. 2018). The well-known cyclic sighing trial recruited mostly university students (Balban et al. 2023). I wouldn't carry those results over to teens.
One school pilot tried slow breathing. In 2022, Bentley and colleagues tested a 5-week programme with 12th-graders (average age about 17) at a Colorado public high school. Forty-three students joined. They did 5 minutes of slow belly breathing with long exhales, three times a week, at home after school. A comparison class did nothing extra.
The students found it easy and tolerable. But taking part dropped from about 73% of sessions in week 1 to 47% by week 5. Anxiety scores didn't change significantly, though the study was too small to test that properly. One student with asthma found slow nose-only breathing hard (Bentley et al. 2022). The authors wonder if practising in class might work better than at home. That is their idea, not a result.
What about school mindfulness programmes?
They're the nearest large body of evidence, because they often include breathing practice. A 2014 review of 24 school studies found a stress effect of g = 0.39 (a small-to-moderate effect) and a smaller effect on emotional problems that wasn't statistically significant. The authors called the field "nascent" (Zenner et al. 2014).
A 2024 review of mindfulness for test anxiety pooled 18 studies and 1,275 students, from middle school to university. It found a moderate-to-large drop in test anxiety. But results varied hugely, and positive results may be more likely to get published (Yilmazer et al. 2024). Breathing was only one ingredient in a few of those programmes.
What does the NHS say about exam stress?
The NHS page for parents covers sleep (teenagers typically need 8 to 10 hours), talking about worries, exercise, practice papers and keeping things in perspective. It doesn't mention breathing exercises (NHS). So think of a breathing pause as something to add to those basics, not to replace them.
The research in a nutshell
| Study | Who | What they found |
|---|---|---|
| Bentley 2022 | 43 high school seniors | Easy to do; no significant change in anxiety scores (small pilot) |
| Zenner 2014 | 1,348 trained students plus 876 comparison | School mindfulness: stress effect g = 0.39 |
| Yilmazer 2024 | 1,275 students | Moderate-to-large drop in test anxiety, with big differences between studies |
| Fincham 2023 | 785 adults | Small-to-medium drop in stress (adults only) |
Weak to early for breathing exercises in teens, and mixed for school mindfulness. A nice maybe, not a promise.
Who should skip this or check first
Check with a doctor first if the young person has asthma or another lung condition, a heart condition, epilepsy, or a history of fainting. Avoid breath holds and fast, forceful breathing. Nobody has studied those in school-age teens, and breathing too fast or deep can cause lightheadedness, tingling and chest discomfort (Cleveland Clinic).
Breathing exercises aren't enough on their own when a young person is very distressed. The NHS says to see a GP if anxiety or low mood is severe, lasts, or interferes with daily life. Talking to a supportive person at school is also on its list. Signs of exam stress to watch for include constant worry, poor sleep, headaches or stomach aches, losing interest in usual activities, and negative thinking or hopelessness about the future.
Questions people ask
Do breathing exercises reduce test anxiety in teenagers?
We don't know yet. The one school-based slow-breathing pilot I found didn't show a significant change, but it was small. Mindfulness programmes that include breathing have shown benefits on average, with a lot of variation.
How long should a teen practise breathing exercises?
There is no tested answer. Five minutes was used in the pilot, and the NHS suggests at least 5 minutes. Shorter is a fine start. It helps to practise before exam week, not for the first time in the exam hall.
Can a teen do a breathing exercise in the exam room?
I found no studies on this. A few slow, comfortable breaths are unlikely to cause harm for most people. Avoid anything that makes them light-headed, and rehearse beforehand.
Is box breathing good for teens?
It involves holding the breath, and I found no teen studies of it. In the adult trial it didn't lift mood more than mindfulness did. I'd start with simple slow breathing without holds.
What are the best breathing exercises for students who feel stressed?
Slow, gentle breathing with a slightly longer out-breath, like the steps above, is a sensible place to start. It isn't proven for teens, so treat it as one small tool next to sleep, exercise and talking things through.
When should we ask for help instead?
When worry, low mood or sleep problems are severe, last for weeks or get in the way of daily life. See a GP, as the NHS advises, and mention it to a trusted teacher or school counsellor.
Sources and further reading (9)
- Bentley TGK et al. Slow-breathing curriculum for stress reduction in high school students: lessons learned from a feasibility pilot. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 2022. PMC9397716
- Zenner C, Herrnleben-Kurz S, Walach H. Mindfulness-based interventions in schools: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2014. PMC4075476
- Yilmazer E, Hamamci Z, Turk F. Effects of mindfulness on test anxiety: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2024. PMC11238660
- Fincham GW, Strauss C, Montero-Marin J, Cavanagh K. Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Scientific Reports, 2023. PMC9828383
- Zaccaro et al. Systematic review of slow breathing and psychophysiological effects. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2018. Frontiers
- Balban et al. Brief structured respiration practices (randomised trial of cyclic sighing, box breathing and cyclic hyperventilation versus mindfulness). Cell Reports Medicine, 2023. PMC9873947
- NHS. Help your child beat exam stress. nhs.uk
- NHS. Breathing exercise for stress. nhs.uk
- Cleveland Clinic. Hyperventilation: symptoms, causes and advice. clevelandclinic.org
Updated 24 October 2026. We re-check posts when new research comes out.
