I know what you're thinking: Does one really need to pay for an app to practice deep breathing?
Well, not necessarily. That being said, Calm's breathing tool is especially serene, and I find it helpful because it uses visual cues to guide users through inhales and exhales. For me, it's become an easy reminder to practice deep breathing, even if that means just taking a few long breaths once a day.
Plus, there are proven benefits to this style of breathing that emphasize its importance. Most of the time, people take shallow breaths instead of engaging in "diaphragmatic breathing," or belly breathing, according to experts at Harvard Medical School.
Practicing deep, belly breaths for 10 to 20 minutes a day is one way of invoking the "relaxation response," which was developed by Harvard Medical School cardiologist Dr. Herbert Benson in the 1960s and 1970s as a healthy way of responding to stressors.
Deep breathing is one technique of invoking the relaxation response, which could help to decrease heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure, and even be beneficial for the immune system, according to Harvard Medical School.