Calm

Anti-Appetite Breathing

When a craving hits, give it 90 seconds of slow, lengthening exhales before you decide.

Also called: Breathing for cravings, Craving breath, Anti-appetite pattern, Breathing for emotional eating

Anti-Appetite breathing is a 90-second pattern for the moment a food craving hits: you breathe in for 5 seconds every round while the exhale grows from 5 to 10 seconds and the pause after it shrinks from 5 seconds to none. It is for the urge, not for hunger.

Use it when you want to eat out of stress, boredom or habit. By the last long exhale you'll feel calm, clear-headed and back in charge of your next choice. If you are truly hungry, eat.

Pattern: In 5 s; out 5 to 10 s; pause 5 to 0 s, over 6 rounds
Session: 90 seconds (6 rounds)
Good for: Food cravings, stress or boredom eating
Level: Beginner
Origin: Prana Breath's Anti-appetite pattern, credited to a book by A. Faleev
Needs: iPhone or Apple Watch

How to do it

Start the moment you notice the urge. Sit or stand wherever you are.
Breathe in through your nose for 5 seconds. The inhale stays at 5 seconds every round.
Breathe out slowly for 5 seconds in round 1. Make it longer by slowing the air, not by pushing.
Pause with empty lungs for 5 seconds. Let your jaw and the muscles around your eyes go soft.
Each round, add 1 second to the exhale and take 1 second off the pause.
In round 6, breathe out for 10 seconds with no pause after it. That completes the 90 seconds.
Check in: are you hungry, or was that an urge? Eat if you are hungry.

Benefits

Calm in 90 seconds
Six rounds of lengthening exhales slow you to four breaths a minute. You'll feel the rush of the urge settle and your head clear.
Space between the urge and the snack
Ninety seconds is enough to notice what you are feeling and choose what to do, instead of eating on autopilot.
A job for your attention
Tracking an exhale that grows and a pause that shrinks keeps your mind busy while the urge peaks and passes.
Less craving in a 2024 trial
Adults with obesity who practiced breathing with a long exhale reported less food craving afterward, including less desire to eat^[1].

What the research says

The evidence is limited and mixed. The closest study is a 2024 randomized trial with 40 adults with obesity^[1]. One group breathed at 12 breaths a minute with a long exhale; the other sat still and watched a metronome. After the breathing, the long-exhale group reported less food craving, including less desire to eat and less hunger, felt less impulsive, and showed higher heart rate variability during the practice^[1].

A pilot study found something different. Female students paced their breathing at 6 or 9 breaths a minute while looking at their favorite food: craving rose during the breathing and fell during rest periods, and the breathing pace made no difference^[2].

Slow breathing reliably raises heart rate variability, a marker of your body's rest system^[3]. No study has tested Anti-Appetite's exact pattern. Use it for what it does: a calm, deliberate 90 seconds when an urge shows up.

How the 90 seconds are built

Every round is 15 seconds. The exhale and the pause always add up to 10 seconds; only the split changes. You start heavy on the pause and finish on a long, free exhale.

Round 1: in 5, out 5, pause 5
Round 2: in 5, out 6, pause 4
Round 3: in 5, out 7, pause 3
Round 4: in 5, out 8, pause 2
Round 5: in 5, out 9, pause 1
Round 6: in 5, out 10, no pause

Where the pattern comes from

Spoon's pattern follows the Anti-appetite pattern of Prana Breath, another breathing app, which credits it to a book by A. Faleev^[4].

Tips

Start at the first flicker of an urge, not at its peak.
Lengthen the exhale by slowing the air, not by pushing harder.
Relax your jaw and the area around your eyes during every pause.
For more time, run the block again: Spoon offers 2, 3 or 4 blocks.
Afterward, ask yourself one question: hungry, or something else?

Safety

It is not a weight-loss method and does not replace medical or nutrition advice.
If cravings are tied to an eating disorder, use it with your doctor's or therapist's guidance, and never to skip meals.
If you are pregnant, check with your doctor before practicing breath pauses.
Stop and breathe normally if you feel dizzy. Never practice while driving or in water.

Anti-Appetite in Spoon

Spoon runs Anti-Appetite as a fixed pattern: a 5-second inhale, an exhale that grows from 5 to 10 seconds and a pause that shrinks from 5 seconds to none, across 6 rounds. One block takes 90 seconds; choose 2, 3 or 4 blocks (up to 6 minutes) to repeat it.

A split-bar chart shows each round's inhale, exhale and pause, with the current round outlined, so you see the exhale grow as you breathe. On Apple Watch, your wrist gets a tap at each phase change, so you can follow with your eyes closed.

Fixed 6-round pattern, 90 seconds per block.
1 to 4 blocks: 90, 180, 270 or 360 seconds.
A split-bar chart of every round, on iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple Watch taps your wrist at each phase change.
Optional soft tones; voice guide on iPhone (off by default) calls the phases.
Add it to a playlist; sessions save to Apple Health as Mindful Minutes.

Join the beta See every exercise

Free public beta for iPhone and Apple Watch.

Questions

Can breathing stop food cravings?

It gives you 90 calm seconds before you act, and you come out of it clear-headed, with a real choice about what to eat. Research on cravings is mixed: a 2024 trial found less food craving after long-exhale breathing, while a pilot found breathing pace made no difference to craving for a favorite food. If you are truly hungry, eat.

Is anti-appetite breathing for weight loss?

No. It is a 90-second tool for riding out a craving, not a diet or a weight-loss method, and no study has tested it for weight loss. For eating and nutrition advice, talk with your doctor.

How do you do anti-appetite breathing?

Breathe in for 5 seconds every round. Breathe out for 5 seconds in round 1, then 1 second longer each round, up to 10. After each exhale, pause with empty lungs: 5 seconds in round 1, then 1 second shorter each round, down to none in round 6. Six rounds take 90 seconds.

When should you use it?

The moment you notice a craving that is not hunger: stress at your desk, boredom in the evening, a snack you did not plan. Start at the first flicker rather than at the peak.

Is anti-appetite breathing safe?

Yes for most healthy adults. The longest pause is 5 seconds, in the first round, and nothing is forced. Check with your doctor first if you are pregnant. If cravings are tied to an eating disorder, use it with your clinician's guidance. Stop if you feel dizzy.

Sources

Telles S, Gupta A, Sharma SK, Balkrishna A. Volitionally regulated breathing with prolonged expiration influences food craving and impulsivity. Complementary Medicine Research, 2024. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Meule A, Kübler A. A pilot study on the effects of slow paced breathing on current food craving. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 2017. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Laborde S et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2022. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Olekdia. Anti-appetite. Prana Breath pattern page. pranabreath.info

Updated October 2026. This page is for education, not medical advice. If you have a heart, lung or blood pressure condition, epilepsy, or you are pregnant, ask your doctor before you start a breathing practice with holds or fast breathing.