Backed by Stanford Neuroscience

One breath.
Clear.

The physiological sigh is the fastest way to calm your nervous system. Aera guides you through it in under 15 seconds.

Coming soon to iOS and WatchOS

Tap to start. No account required.

Aera home screen — the breathing circle
"We tell people to take a deep breath.
What they actually need is a long exhale."

Standard breathing advice misses the mechanism. Stress raises CO₂ in your bloodstream, collapsing the tiny alveoli in your lungs. A double inhale re-opens them. A long exhale triggers the vagus nerve, slowing your heart rate in real time.

Three phases. One breath cycle.

01

Inhale deeply

A full breath through your nose. Fill your lungs completely — feel your chest rise.

4 seconds
02

Then again

A short second inhale through your nose. This fully inflates the alveoli. This is the key.

1 second
03

Exhale slowly

A long, slow exhale through your mouth. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system.

7 seconds

One complete cycle takes about 12 seconds. Research shows even a single cycle reduces acute stress. Five minutes of cyclic sighing improves mood for up to 24 hours.

The research.

Stanford neuroscientists ran a randomized controlled trial comparing cyclic sighing to mindfulness meditation and other breathing techniques across 111 participants.

The result: cyclic sighing outperformed meditation for mood improvement and anxiety reduction — and the effects lasted through the next day.

111
participants in the Stanford RCT
24h
mood improvement from 5 min of practice
<15s
to feel calmer with a single cycle
Peer-Reviewed Study
Balban, M.Y. et al.
Cell Reports Medicine
Vol. 4, Issue 1 · 2023
"Physiological sighing selectively improved affect relative to mindfulness meditation"
Read the full paper →

Beautifully simple.

Two taps. That's the whole interaction.

Aera home screen
Aera breathing session — inhale phase
Aera post-session mood check
Aera session history

"I used to spend 20 minutes trying to calm down before a presentation. Now I do this once in the bathroom. Done."

Designer, SF  ·  Early beta feedback

"One cycle before every Zoom call changed everything for me."

Software Engineer, NYC  ·  Early beta feedback

"My therapist taught me this technique. Aera finally gave me a way to do it on my own, anytime."

Graduate student  ·  Early beta feedback

Questions.

No. Aera works completely offline with no account required. Your sessions are stored privately on your device. Pro users can optionally enable iCloud sync.
Most breathing apps give you a library of techniques to choose from. Aera does exactly one thing: the physiological sigh. That's not a limitation — it's the point. Less choice, less friction, more consistency.
A double inhale through the nose — a full breath, followed immediately by a short top-up — then a long, slow exhale through the mouth. Your body does this involuntarily every few minutes. Doing it deliberately triggers the parasympathetic nervous system and slows your heart rate in real time.
Yes. The technique was published by neuroscientists at Stanford University (Balban, Huberman, Spiegel et al.) in Cell Reports Medicine in 2023. You can read the full peer-reviewed paper here.
One cycle is about 12 seconds. The default is three cycles — enough for acute stress relief. You can extend to 3 or 5 cycles in settings.
Pro unlocks your full session history, mood trend analytics, and future breathing protocol expansions. It's $4.99/year — about 1 cent per day — with a 7-day free trial.

The hardest part is
just starting.

Open Aera. Tap once. You'll feel the difference in under 15 seconds. Your nervous system will thank you.

Coming soon to iOS and WatchOS

iOS 17+  ·  Free to download  ·  No account required