Breathwork for Investment Bankers
The only thing harder than the hours is sustaining performance through them
Investment banking selects for endurance. 100-hour weeks, aggressive timelines, demanding MDs, and the constant awareness that a single mistake in a model or pitch book can tank a deal. Most junior bankers cope with caffeine and adrenaline until they hit a wall — usually around year two.
The dirty secret of banking is that most of those hours aren't productive. After 60-70 hours, cognitive function degrades dramatically. The errors that create all-night revision cycles are often caused by the fatigue from the previous all-night revision cycle. It's a negative feedback loop that destroys both output quality and human capital.
Breathwork won't fix the structural problems of banking hours. But it can improve the quality of each hour you do work. Three minutes of coherence breathing restores 20-30 minutes of effective focus. Five minutes of 4-7-8 breathing before sleep maximizes recovery from limited sleep. These are marginal gains, but in banking, marginal gains compound into survival.
Recommended Patterns
Sustained focus. Maintains cognitive function deep into long nights when everyone else's work quality is degrading.
Maximizing limited sleep. When you only get 4 hours, you need every minute to count.
Pre-pitch composure. Walk into the boardroom calm, confident, and sharp.
When to Use It
- Before client pitches or live deal meetings
- During late-night model work when errors spike
- Before sleep to maximize recovery from limited hours
- After getting harsh feedback from a senior banker
- Between workstreams to prevent cognitive bleed
Frequently Asked Questions
I sleep 4-5 hours. Is breathwork a substitute for sleep?
No — nothing replaces sleep. But 4-7-8 breathing before bed improves sleep efficiency, meaning you get more restorative value from the hours you do have. And coherence breathing during the day reduces the cognitive cost of sleep deprivation.
My MD will think I'm slacking if I take 3 minutes to breathe.
Do it in the bathroom or stairwell. Or at your desk — coherence breathing looks like you're reading a doc. The output improvement will speak for itself: fewer errors, better slide structure, sharper analysis.
When is the highest-leverage time to do this?
Before sleep (4-7-8) and before any high-stakes meeting (box breathing). If you add one more: coherence breathing at the start of a long work block, like before settling into a model at 10pm.
Does this help with the Sunday scaries?
Directly. Sunday evening anxiety is anticipatory stress — your nervous system treating Monday's problems as present-tense threats. Box breathing or coherence breathing before bed on Sunday night interrupts that cycle.
Breathwork for Other Professions