In an apparatus for assisting respirations of a subject in accordance with a predetermined reference respiration pattern defined as a sequence of reference respirations each having a reference respiratory volume for the subject, a respiration obtaining unit obtains, at a sampling time, an actual respiratory volume of the subject based on an actual respiration of the subject in accordance with the predetermined reference respiration pattern. A storing unit stores variation of the reference respiratory volumes for the subject. An assisting unit generates, based on the actual respiratory volume and the reference respiratory volumes, visual assist information indicative of a respiratory state of the subject relative to the predetermined reference respiration pattern, and provides the visual assist information to the subject.
