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I've been doing breathing exercises regularly for the past 8 years. Complete game changer for emotional regulation. I've also organized and taught it in schools, prisons, offices, etc. on a volunteer basis.
I like it because it's not a logical activity. Nobody has to be convinced that it works or makes sense. If you breathe in a certain way, your feelings will change (or something noticeable will happen) whether you believe in it or not.
I'm happy it's becoming more mainstream. Even if you don't do it regularly, it's a good thing to learn.
I'd recommend starting with Alternate Nostril breathing and Bhastrika. Each exercise takes about 5 minutes each. For both exercises, try them with the eyes open until you can do it with eyes closed. Then follow the routine.
Alternate Nostril Breathing (ANB)
Routine: 2 minutes ANB. Rest* 1 minute. 2 minutes ANB.
Benefits: Good for when you're feeling overwhelmed by tech or too many thoughts at Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VwufJrUhic (3:20 - 4:56)
Notes: A lot of the videos I've found online have an awkward hand posture. I'm not sure it's necessary. The general idea is to close one nostril at a time and alternate breathing.
Bhastrika / Bellows breathing (BB)
Benefits: Good for energy.
Routine: 3 sets of 20 BB. Rest* 30 seconds between sets.
Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DByVSR2fX0k&t=1s.
Notes: It might look a little funny, but it's worth a try. If you can, I would recommend sitting in vajrasana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrasana_(yoga)). No worries if you can't sit like that.
Rest means sit with your eyes closed and breathe normally. Rest your hands on your lap palm facing up.
Bonus*
Ujayyi Breathing (UJ)
Benefits: Really nice and really subtle breathe you can do anywhere. This is actually a very useful breath to be aware of.
Routine: 2 minutes UJ. Rest* 1 minute. 2 minutes UJ.
Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwEdfOuhoY4
Notes: Foundational breath for yoga and pranayama (pranayama means breath control)
I personally do pranayama (3-stage pranayama w/ UJ breathing) with bhastrika and a kriya breathing exercise (SKY breathing) every morning. I also occasionally do alternate nostril breathing before meditation. This is something simpler, though, that I think anyone can try out and see if it works for them or not. There are also a lot of other good comments in this thread, but this is what I have personal experience with.
For the people asking for a routine I would recommend
“Light on Prãnãyãma: The Yogic Art of Breathing” by B. K. S. Iyengar. All the info you could ever want and more. I have had a regular pranayama practice for the past several years and this book really helps dial in the mechanics of it as well as some great history.
I dealt with serious anxiety in high school and accidentally learned that just forcing myself to breathe slower made everything much calmer.
No need to overthink any special technique. Just breathe slow, and try not to breathe too shallow. Do it as an exercise for a few minutes. Breathe with the stomach (not chest), like a baby would.
I've heard about people that basically do this constantly everyday essentially making their diaphragms stronger . I feel like I need to go to class to learn this . I just to the basics which is slow breathing through the nose and fill air specifically in the stomach region . Hold . Exhale through the mouth slowly . Repeat
I've been worried in recent years about getting a big gut from diaphragmatic breathing. My BMI is low but when I breath that way (and when it feels best) my belly can really stick out. Do you have any opinion on this?
A while back someone on HN recommended Sivananda Yoga. The first part of it includes some breathing exercises. I was suffering from repeated flu-like symptoms, sinus, etc since the beginning of this year. I had some difficulty breathing and actually had to get tested for corona thrice since my symptoms were eerily similar. After I started doing these exercises, my sinus and other breathing difficulties have disappeared. The exercises seem to give me a boost of energy. I've been using them as a drug especially on the days I don't sleep well. I do them first thing in the morning. This is anecdotal and might not work for you. Thanks to the HNer that recommended it. It's been life changing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUKjuni-6l8 (the breathing exercises start at minute 9 and go up to minute 24 or so). I don't do the exercises that follow it nor listen to the chanting before it.
I've been overbreathing (essentially, chronic hyperventilation that you don't notice) ever since I had a bit of a health scare.
It's horrible.
Your CO2 levels drop, which inhibits your body's blood pH regulation. An increased blood pH leads to fuzzy thoughts, pinpricks all over your body, headaches, etc. Longer term, all kinds of aches start popping up. (Bloating, acid reflux, etc.)
It's difficult to fix something that you did unconsciously before. If anything, paying too much attention to your breathing works against you.
I have no real point here, except: breathing is important. And, if someone happens to read this and has some advice: let me know. :-)
Have you tried an incentive spirometer? They're about fifteen dollars on Amazon. I got one recently to track (what I assume is) my lung volume to use as a possible indicator of covid, but after reading the directions it seems like the device is purpose made for your problem.
You practice breathing with this thing 4 times a day, ten breaths a session, and track the volume of your inhalations. In order to get the number to go up you need to take long, deep, and slow breaths.
It will give you a clear numerical result to track. 4 sessions a day, 10 breaths each, record your measurements, plug them into Excel, get an average going and work on driving it up.
I also feel like there's potentially a market for a digital incentive spirometer that could help people do these things. Especially if problems like this are somewhat common.
Chronic anxiety is a vicious cycle of anxiety-inducing thoughts leading to physical symptoms leading to more anxiety-inducing thoughts. The most recommended solution is to chronic anxiety is to always just refocus on the task you're currently doing and continue on. You'll quickly forget about paying attention to your breathing and return to normal breathing.
Do NOT do breathing exercises to curb anxiety, because that will just reinforce the pathways in your brain and your anxiety will keep recurring.
If you're noticing you're mind is dwelling on anxiety-inducing thoughts you need to refocus on your current task.
Just keep doing that whenever symptoms popup.
The symptoms will popup less and less frequently, and you'll have developed such strong coping mechanisms that you automatically handle the issue.
This is approach is called "cognitive behavioral therapy" or CBT, and is an evidence-based approach used widely. You can consult a therapist and get taught CBT skills by a professional. (That's what I did)
In addition to learning CBT techniques, and get regular exercise and enough sleep. I recommend you cut out all caffeine until you have developed strong CBT skills. Of course, rule out any underlying medical issues and work on any medical conditions (obesity, bad posture).
Once you're comfortable you have anxiety under control you can slowly re-introduce caffeine.
Source: I used to have severe and debilitating chronic hyperventilation and anxiety, but sought help from a CBT therapist a few years ago. Now when I am living my life and notice I've started hyperventilating (or dwelling on an anxious thought), I can immediately stop it by refocusing. It's changed my life and I highly recommend learning the CBT techniques.
I highly recommend a few sessions with a CBT therapist. If you're not in a position to do that you might be able to learn about CBT techniques from elsewhere, such as YouTube.
It's like reading something I wrote! I've been in the same boat (chronic hyperventilation, acid reflux, headache, panic attacks) for the past 10+ years and it also started with a health scare. However in my case, it seems to be mostly related to muscle tenseness caused by serotonin imbalance. I finally had too many episodes few years ago and it forced me to learn about it and find ways to deal with it.
Without knowing the root cause in your case, the only thing I can suggest is to train yourself to breathe right while your figure out the underlying cause. The Breathing Retraining chapter of the PTSD Handbook [1] is the best resource I've found for this.
I suggest you see a psychiatrist as chronic hyperventilation can be related to mental health issues.
Please read this book : the healing power of breath.
As someone who taught yoga and is familiar with overbreathing, they teach a very simple technique and the writers have a lot of experience.
You actually practice for twenty minutes a day at first, and the technique is very simple (so you don’t get lost in all kinds of details) Once you get the right rhythm for your body type you’re good to go.
I did pretty well at running a race, a few years ago as a typical sedate developer, but training for 3 months. I was sick (i.e. flu-ey a lot, nothing uber serious) at the time too - I was running to help see if I can fitness my way out of it.
And I put a lot of it down to reading about breathing in for 2 steps then out for 3 (the total is an odd number so you change sides, so 3/4 is good too). Thanks for whoever wrote that blog post! The process really focuses me and it's like a drumbeat in my mind. If I sprint it changes to 1/1 or less though, and I stop using the nose!
My "regular" breathing pattern (i.e. the one I use to run at medium-hard paces for long distances) is:
nose-in, mouth out: in, out-out, in-in, ooout.
1/4, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/2.
I attenuate the BPM to my pace: on high intensity runs, I usually can get away with raising the BPM, but the last 1/2 is very hard and I sometimes break it into 1/4 out, 1/4 in (more oxygen). For sprinting, any pattern goes away, and it's 1/4 in, 1/4 out. Still nose to mouth, but I think the optimal solution here depends a lot on the shapes of your nose/mouth. :)
And most people think running is just putting one foot in front of the other! :)
To some extent it is of course, but these kinds of cadences are necessary to run effectively, which I guess is different from just running.
For those of you that haven't heard of the Wim Hof method, that's a breathwork that can tremendously improve your health. It is also, kind of scientifically proven.
How you are breathing is also a part of your body language. I don't know how much of your breathing is recognized by other humans, but having been around animals most of my life, I've realized they perceive how you are breathing at the moment as a signal of what you are thinking. If you suddenly hold your breath, you are tense. You may not even be aware you are doing it. If you release the air in your lungs and breath out, you are relaxing. These are 2 of the strongest cues that animals react to. If you're curious, the next time your around an animal, experiment with it. Try steady in and out breathing, then subtly hold your breath for a moment, then exhale loudly, and see if and how the animal responds.
All conversation starts with breathing and we pick up on all sorts of signals even when people are trying to pretend otherwise
I've often said whoever controls the breathing controls the conversation and I say this as a former professional conversation instructor
People don't take hardly enough advantage of their lung capacity maybe with COVID we'll start taking this into consideration
I have a story to relate
I was working at a large private software company, the largest in north America think SalesForce but not SalesForce
The CTO was giving what was intended to be a pep talk but for some reason maybe nerves maybe he wasn't warmed up on the mic we could hear his wheezing breath
Nobody paid any attention to the message all anyone could talk about was the quality of his breath -- anything he had to say was completely lost
This article is another example of the mainstream only now catching up to things which we all know and have known for ages
People communicate on the level of subconscious and physiological signals and it's useless to pretend otherwise
The book : Oxygen advantage[1] makes similar points.
It points out to the research of why swimmers have higher life expectancy than the average athelete, why almost all of us are hyperventilating. Then he outlines simple exercises to improve your breathing habit.
Few points:
1. Always breathe through your nose. Even when you are jogging/cycling heavily.
2. Try to hold your breathe for elongate period of time.
3. Try doing 2 while walking/running/cycling.
4. Swim!
5. Pushing the breathe out and then holding is better than taking the breathe in and holding.
For some reason, I find this GIF really relaxing. I have it bookmarked and match my breathing to it every once in awhile https://i.imgur.com/Huou7Gh.gif
There was a related study of "Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training (IMST)" breathing exercises which showed a huge decrease in blood pressure with 5 mins of training for 6 weeks:
First you need a inspiratory muscle trainer device and nose clips/plugs. It's basically just a valve that can be tightened with a knob. You can get them on Amazon and whatnot.
The actual exercise just involves inhaling through the device, for a couple of minutes, and over the course of days/weeks/months working up to higher resistance levels. It's hard work, and it bugs me that it forces you to mouth-breathe, but it will strengthen the muscles.
Always when im zoned out drawing or painting i notice the pattern in my breath, it’s much slower and holds a bit at the end. The effect is super calming. I wonder what other activities people do to get this type of breathing. For coding Im so concentrated at times that I zone out 100%, dont even notice that im breathing. However, coding while stressed out makes the breathing shallow, quick and unsatisfying.
A lifetime of lung problems (asthma, and many cases of pneumonia as a child) and martial arts has made me very conscious of my breathing. Spent a lot of time with physiotherapists working on breathing. In part just to strengthen muscles, but also to learn airway clearance techniques. Started practicing martial arts as a child, where there is often a strong focus on breath. Tried the Buteyko method for a while, but never fully internalized it.
There is, anecdotally, definitely some underappreciated value in slow breathing. Feeling anxious (for whatever reason)? Check your breathing and slow it down. Maybe throw in some alternate nostril breathing, though I'm not sure if it's the distraction that does it or the breathing. Light asthma attack and wheezing? Check your breathing, slow it down, maybe add some pursed lip exhalations. Major asthma attack? Inhaler :-).
But in spite of the improvements I've made to breathing while I'm awake, I still managed to develop sleep apnea. You win some, you lose some ...
It makes sense that controlling your breathing would help with asthma. After all, asthma is triggered by stressing your airways. If you can somehow do it less then that will help. I find it odd that this isn't taught to everyone who suffers from asthma. It could potentially save their life.
I help out with a festival literally called “Breathe” https://www.discoverbreathe.com/
It started largely focusing on Slacklining and has since branched out to many other things but it quite remarkable how much the way we breath affects us mentally and physically!
Related tangent: over 7 years ago, in recovery from emergency medical treatment, I started "sitting zazen" (doing Sato Buddhist Zen -based seated meditation) for 10 minutes every morning. It's been transformational. It's so simple. And so powerful. Being able to connect with your breath, return to the present moment, and quiet your possibly-noisy mind... it's practically a superpower. I'm a much, much happier and better person for it. Highest possible recommendation to find a breath-related habit that works for you.
The other important thing the article doesn't mention is that mouth-breathing causes the body to eliminate too much carbon dioxide -- you're literally "over-breathing". Blood CO2 is vital for proper oxygenation.
By dropping CO2 too low, you actually decrease brain and organ performance by binding oxygen too tightly with hemoglobin, starving your organs.
It's actually fairly rare for young people to have too little oxygen in their blood, but really common for them to have too little CO2, from over-breathing. By slowing down breathing, and most importantly, NOSE breathing, you normalize blood CO2 and restore cognitive / organ function.
Exactly, if you are going to make a claim that most people are breathing inadequately, back it up more. The author made numerous appeals to authority and didn't include links to any studies. The only study he actually mentioned was a study on himself about mouth breathing.
It's worth pointing out in this connection that breathing is both autonomic and volitional. Only blinking (and I think one other that I can't recall ATM) is also like that. In other words, breathing is one of the only two (three?) vital autonomic processes that one can do non-optimally!
You can't digest wrong, or regulate your temperature wrong, or pump your blood wrong, etc. but you can breath wrong.
In some (sub-)cultures breathing is at the core of knowledge and health while in others it's barely understood, eh?
(FWIW, I suspect that volitional breathing must have something to do with spoken language, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to do other than speculate.)
Breathing in is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system (muscle tensing) and breathing out by the parasympathetic nervous system (muscle relaxing). Together they are the ANS.
When the amygdala (our alarm system) recognises danger it sets the sympathetic nervous system off which also mediates much of our automatic fight or flight responses, what we often describe as stress.
We have no direct conscious control over our amygdala, it’s a one way messaging system, apart from breathing (afaik). Breathing is one of the few ANS controlled functions that we have conscious control over.
In breathing slowly and deeply we decrease the rate we’re firing the sympathetic nervous system and increasing the rate of firing of the parasympathetic nervous system (muscles contract once, muscles relax for extended period).
I suspect this actually allows us some level of communication with the amygdala, perhaps allowing us to turn it off, or reduce it’s volume, which in turn would reduce the level of stress we experienced.
[+] [-] neonate|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshspankit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aspenmayer|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Reelin|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dayvid|5 years ago|reply
I like it because it's not a logical activity. Nobody has to be convinced that it works or makes sense. If you breathe in a certain way, your feelings will change (or something noticeable will happen) whether you believe in it or not.
I'm happy it's becoming more mainstream. Even if you don't do it regularly, it's a good thing to learn.
[+] [-] dayvid|5 years ago|reply
Alternate Nostril Breathing (ANB) Routine: 2 minutes ANB. Rest* 1 minute. 2 minutes ANB. Benefits: Good for when you're feeling overwhelmed by tech or too many thoughts at Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VwufJrUhic (3:20 - 4:56) Notes: A lot of the videos I've found online have an awkward hand posture. I'm not sure it's necessary. The general idea is to close one nostril at a time and alternate breathing.
Bhastrika / Bellows breathing (BB) Benefits: Good for energy. Routine: 3 sets of 20 BB. Rest* 30 seconds between sets. Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DByVSR2fX0k&t=1s. Notes: It might look a little funny, but it's worth a try. If you can, I would recommend sitting in vajrasana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrasana_(yoga)). No worries if you can't sit like that.
Rest means sit with your eyes closed and breathe normally. Rest your hands on your lap palm facing up.
Bonus* Ujayyi Breathing (UJ) Benefits: Really nice and really subtle breathe you can do anywhere. This is actually a very useful breath to be aware of. Routine: 2 minutes UJ. Rest* 1 minute. 2 minutes UJ. Video example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwEdfOuhoY4 Notes: Foundational breath for yoga and pranayama (pranayama means breath control)
I personally do pranayama (3-stage pranayama w/ UJ breathing) with bhastrika and a kriya breathing exercise (SKY breathing) every morning. I also occasionally do alternate nostril breathing before meditation. This is something simpler, though, that I think anyone can try out and see if it works for them or not. There are also a lot of other good comments in this thread, but this is what I have personal experience with.
[+] [-] playingchanges|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crehn|5 years ago|reply
No need to overthink any special technique. Just breathe slow, and try not to breathe too shallow. Do it as an exercise for a few minutes. Breathe with the stomach (not chest), like a baby would.
[+] [-] jokowueu|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fnord77|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aiphex|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] breather|5 years ago|reply
I am VERY interested in your techniques, and I'm sure many others will benefit directly from your wisdom if you choose to share it.
Do you have a video?
[+] [-] notadev|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yakireev|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sg47|5 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUKjuni-6l8 (the breathing exercises start at minute 9 and go up to minute 24 or so). I don't do the exercises that follow it nor listen to the chanting before it.
[+] [-] simsla|5 years ago|reply
It's horrible.
Your CO2 levels drop, which inhibits your body's blood pH regulation. An increased blood pH leads to fuzzy thoughts, pinpricks all over your body, headaches, etc. Longer term, all kinds of aches start popping up. (Bloating, acid reflux, etc.)
It's difficult to fix something that you did unconsciously before. If anything, paying too much attention to your breathing works against you.
I have no real point here, except: breathing is important. And, if someone happens to read this and has some advice: let me know. :-)
[+] [-] ALittleLight|5 years ago|reply
You practice breathing with this thing 4 times a day, ten breaths a session, and track the volume of your inhalations. In order to get the number to go up you need to take long, deep, and slow breaths.
It will give you a clear numerical result to track. 4 sessions a day, 10 breaths each, record your measurements, plug them into Excel, get an average going and work on driving it up.
I also feel like there's potentially a market for a digital incentive spirometer that could help people do these things. Especially if problems like this are somewhat common.
[+] [-] someperson|5 years ago|reply
Do NOT do breathing exercises to curb anxiety, because that will just reinforce the pathways in your brain and your anxiety will keep recurring.
If you're noticing you're mind is dwelling on anxiety-inducing thoughts you need to refocus on your current task.
Just keep doing that whenever symptoms popup.
The symptoms will popup less and less frequently, and you'll have developed such strong coping mechanisms that you automatically handle the issue.
This is approach is called "cognitive behavioral therapy" or CBT, and is an evidence-based approach used widely. You can consult a therapist and get taught CBT skills by a professional. (That's what I did)
In addition to learning CBT techniques, and get regular exercise and enough sleep. I recommend you cut out all caffeine until you have developed strong CBT skills. Of course, rule out any underlying medical issues and work on any medical conditions (obesity, bad posture).
Once you're comfortable you have anxiety under control you can slowly re-introduce caffeine.
Source: I used to have severe and debilitating chronic hyperventilation and anxiety, but sought help from a CBT therapist a few years ago. Now when I am living my life and notice I've started hyperventilating (or dwelling on an anxious thought), I can immediately stop it by refocusing. It's changed my life and I highly recommend learning the CBT techniques.
I highly recommend a few sessions with a CBT therapist. If you're not in a position to do that you might be able to learn about CBT techniques from elsewhere, such as YouTube.
[+] [-] oxplot|5 years ago|reply
Without knowing the root cause in your case, the only thing I can suggest is to train yourself to breathe right while your figure out the underlying cause. The Breathing Retraining chapter of the PTSD Handbook [1] is the best resource I've found for this.
I suggest you see a psychiatrist as chronic hyperventilation can be related to mental health issues.
Feel free to PM me. My email is on GitHub.
Best of luck
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder-Source...
[+] [-] prox|5 years ago|reply
As someone who taught yoga and is familiar with overbreathing, they teach a very simple technique and the writers have a lot of experience.
You actually practice for twenty minutes a day at first, and the technique is very simple (so you don’t get lost in all kinds of details) Once you get the right rhythm for your body type you’re good to go.
[+] [-] sitkack|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Alkhwarizmi|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] quickthrower2|5 years ago|reply
And I put a lot of it down to reading about breathing in for 2 steps then out for 3 (the total is an odd number so you change sides, so 3/4 is good too). Thanks for whoever wrote that blog post! The process really focuses me and it's like a drumbeat in my mind. If I sprint it changes to 1/1 or less though, and I stop using the nose!
[+] [-] gen220|5 years ago|reply
My "regular" breathing pattern (i.e. the one I use to run at medium-hard paces for long distances) is:
nose-in, mouth out: in, out-out, in-in, ooout.
1/4, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/2.
I attenuate the BPM to my pace: on high intensity runs, I usually can get away with raising the BPM, but the last 1/2 is very hard and I sometimes break it into 1/4 out, 1/4 in (more oxygen). For sprinting, any pattern goes away, and it's 1/4 in, 1/4 out. Still nose to mouth, but I think the optimal solution here depends a lot on the shapes of your nose/mouth. :)
And most people think running is just putting one foot in front of the other! :)
To some extent it is of course, but these kinds of cadences are necessary to run effectively, which I guess is different from just running.
[+] [-] tlapinsk|5 years ago|reply
Additional links:
- https://time.com/4316151/breathing-technique-navy-seal-calm-...
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9I
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZzhk9jEkkI
[+] [-] stanislavb|5 years ago|reply
https://www.wimhofmethod.com/
[+] [-] ryeights|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TopHand|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] artsyca|5 years ago|reply
All conversation starts with breathing and we pick up on all sorts of signals even when people are trying to pretend otherwise
I've often said whoever controls the breathing controls the conversation and I say this as a former professional conversation instructor
People don't take hardly enough advantage of their lung capacity maybe with COVID we'll start taking this into consideration
I have a story to relate
I was working at a large private software company, the largest in north America think SalesForce but not SalesForce
The CTO was giving what was intended to be a pep talk but for some reason maybe nerves maybe he wasn't warmed up on the mic we could hear his wheezing breath
Nobody paid any attention to the message all anyone could talk about was the quality of his breath -- anything he had to say was completely lost
This article is another example of the mainstream only now catching up to things which we all know and have known for ages
People communicate on the level of subconscious and physiological signals and it's useless to pretend otherwise
[+] [-] nishnik|5 years ago|reply
Few points: 1. Always breathe through your nose. Even when you are jogging/cycling heavily. 2. Try to hold your breathe for elongate period of time. 3. Try doing 2 while walking/running/cycling. 4. Swim! 5. Pushing the breathe out and then holding is better than taking the breathe in and holding.
[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26533127-the-oxygen-adva...
[+] [-] amiga_500|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] michaelcampbell|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lattalayta|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] helij|5 years ago|reply
...works for me every time
Some call it zen, some call it breathing exercises or whatever. Try it.
[+] [-] quickthrower2|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throw1234651234|5 years ago|reply
https://www.colorado.edu/today/2019/02/25/novel-workout-impr...
More on that topic here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22656799
Does anyone have a guide to how to actually do these exercises?
[+] [-] elric|5 years ago|reply
The actual exercise just involves inhaling through the device, for a couple of minutes, and over the course of days/weeks/months working up to higher resistance levels. It's hard work, and it bugs me that it forces you to mouth-breathe, but it will strengthen the muscles.
The linked study does 30 inhalations per session.
[+] [-] onemoresoop|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomjakubowski|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elric|5 years ago|reply
There is, anecdotally, definitely some underappreciated value in slow breathing. Feeling anxious (for whatever reason)? Check your breathing and slow it down. Maybe throw in some alternate nostril breathing, though I'm not sure if it's the distraction that does it or the breathing. Light asthma attack and wheezing? Check your breathing, slow it down, maybe add some pursed lip exhalations. Major asthma attack? Inhaler :-).
But in spite of the improvements I've made to breathing while I'm awake, I still managed to develop sleep apnea. You win some, you lose some ...
[+] [-] Mirioron|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rudolph9|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisweekly|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mensetmanusman|5 years ago|reply
‘If you feel so bad, Like you’ve got to roar, Take a deep breath (breath in, out) and count to four’
We sing this a lot with our tantrumers and it works great :)
[+] [-] bpodgursky|5 years ago|reply
By dropping CO2 too low, you actually decrease brain and organ performance by binding oxygen too tightly with hemoglobin, starving your organs.
It's actually fairly rare for young people to have too little oxygen in their blood, but really common for them to have too little CO2, from over-breathing. By slowing down breathing, and most importantly, NOSE breathing, you normalize blood CO2 and restore cognitive / organ function.
[+] [-] downerending|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chiznuggets|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] carapace|5 years ago|reply
You can't digest wrong, or regulate your temperature wrong, or pump your blood wrong, etc. but you can breath wrong.
In some (sub-)cultures breathing is at the core of knowledge and health while in others it's barely understood, eh?
(FWIW, I suspect that volitional breathing must have something to do with spoken language, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to do other than speculate.)
[+] [-] iovrthoughtthis|5 years ago|reply
When the amygdala (our alarm system) recognises danger it sets the sympathetic nervous system off which also mediates much of our automatic fight or flight responses, what we often describe as stress.
We have no direct conscious control over our amygdala, it’s a one way messaging system, apart from breathing (afaik). Breathing is one of the few ANS controlled functions that we have conscious control over.
In breathing slowly and deeply we decrease the rate we’re firing the sympathetic nervous system and increasing the rate of firing of the parasympathetic nervous system (muscles contract once, muscles relax for extended period).
I suspect this actually allows us some level of communication with the amygdala, perhaps allowing us to turn it off, or reduce it’s volume, which in turn would reduce the level of stress we experienced.