New app aims to reduce stress with slow breathing

Want to reduce stress and improve mental focus? A new app that promotes slow breathing may help.

Called MyCalmBeat, the app uses a heart rate monitor that attaches to the ear to detect a person's optimal breathing rate, or resonant frequency, which is unique to each person.

At this breathing rate, the company says the user can increase the variability of their heart rate to lower stress levels.

"People don't realize the profound impact that slow breathing can have until they actually sit down and do it for 10 minutes and then they feel completely different," said Savannah DeVarney, vice president of product marketing for MyBrainSolutions, the creators of the app.

After finding their ideal breathing rate, animated exercises show users how to breathe at that rate, while the heart monitor provides feedback about the variability of their heart rate.

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