26 ms·
Breathing habits are related to physical and mental health
- mtalantikite 6y ago“Light on Pranayama” by Iyengar is a great book on yogic breathing (pranayama) for anyone interested in learning various techniques and exercises.
- mistrial9 6y agosophisticated and subtle.. a good (real life) teacher and stable practice habits are recommended at each turn. (with thirty years of practice in the Iyengar teachings, I consider myself a beginner-intermediate. I know enough not to go too far... When in doubt, let your natural breath return without interference (as said in the book))
- klondike_klive 6y agoI find that the hardest thing to determine - the outbreath falls away naturally, but I can sit there until it feels like I'm never going to inhale again, and at no point does it feel like my breath "returns" by itself, but rather I feel like I have to drag it in, while my heartrate spikes. I have been mildly asthmatic all my life, so maybe that has something to do with it. Incidentally I have often noticed my thoughts become agitated and realised that I'm holding my lungs empty.
- kk58 6y agoRediscovering yoga
- jayd16 6y agoYoga seems 'spiritual' with wonky crystal powers and such but if you approach it as scheduled ergonomic stretching, relaxation through breathing exercises, and quiet introspection its obvious there's a clear physical impact it can make.
- new_guy 6y agoStretching is to yoga as scratch is to programming languages.
- all_usernames 6y agoPaywalled; can't read it. James Nestor, the author, has an amazing book on (not) breathing... actually about athletes who free-drive to unthinkable ocean depths with no gear.
- rconti 6y agoWSJ is the one source continually linked here that I CAN'T read. I guess it helps that I have NYT and WaPo subscriptions, but somehow, the other paywalls don't seem to be an issue in the way that WSJ is.
- pmiller2 6y agoPaywall workaround: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23275949 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23275949 It really is quite amazing the number of human limits free diving tests. Herbert Nitsch is able to dive over 350 feet deep essentially unaided, and has gone to over 830 feet in what they call a "no limits" attempt, in which weights and fins are allowed, and weight can be dropped to aid in the ascent, although he did suffer from nitrogen narcosis and needed to spend some time in a decompression chamber [0]. He can hold his breath for over 9 minutes, whereas I can barely make it to 1 minute. The guy's lung capacity must be incredible. --- [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch#Achievements_and_competition_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Nitsch#Achievements_an...
- carapace 6y agoWow that was quite a ride! > He still has balance and coordination problems on land, but does not experience these underwater. He continues to deep free-dive. It's like the sea claimed him.
- neonate 6y agohttps://archive.md/NVWOo https://archive.md/NVWOo
- aspenmayer 6y agoThanks for archive link
- Reelin 6y agoWhat is this site? Firefox gives me an invalid cert error - the page is apparently presenting a certificate issued to cloudflare-dns.com. The site has a Wikipedia article (archive.today) which mentions something about blocking the Cloudflare DNS resolver, but the machine I'm on uses the default (ie my ISP's) resolver. Does anyone know what's going on here?
- robocat 6y agoGuessing you use CloudFlare 1.1.1.1 DNS and archive returns bad IP address. Read through discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19828317 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19828317
- Reelin 6y agoI don't use Cloudflare DNS though ... do I? Seriously, WTF is going on here? The DHCP on my router is configured to distribute the DNS server provided by my ISP!
- carapace 6y agoFirefox switched to DNS-over-HTTPS recently and it uses Cloudflare. (I may be talking nonsense here... This could have nothing to do with it.)
- Reelin 6y agoIt looks like you're correct. * systemd-resolve --status -> 74.40.74.40 (my ISP) * dig archive.is -> 212.80.216.76 * whois 212.80.216.76 -> Serverio technologijos MB * Firefox -> Preferences -> Network Settings -> DNS over HTTPS: enabled I don't recall doing that... https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/02/25/firefox-continues-push-to-bring-dns-over-https-by-default-for-us-users/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2020/02/25/firefox-continues-p... Unbelievable! Apparently Mozilla unilaterally enabled DoH in my browser sometime within the past 2 months without so much as notifying me! WTF?! This sort of thing is completely unacceptable no matter how pure their intentions might be.
- chrisweekly 6y agoRelated 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.
- volkk 6y agorelated to your related tangent: my great grandfather was obsessed with something called the "Buteyko method" for breathing. He was able to control and basically heal his asthma with it. My grandma (his daughter) now does it for herself and seemingly has great results for mental/physical health. I used to do it as a child but I fell off of it and now I've been thinking of going back as a meditative method.
- therockspush 6y agoI tried this a while back. Most of the content was paywalled but one video I found summed it up pretty well. Most people are essentially constantly hyperventilating and our body is acting accordingly. Being able to control the "pause" was a crucial part of it, and the little bit of info I gleamed from it was helpful for me. https://buteykoclinic.com/breathing-exercises/ https://buteykoclinic.com/breathing-exercises/
- volkk 6y ago> Most people are essentially constantly hyperventilating and our body is acting accordingly. it's very interesting, because i always find that i'm instead almost always holding my breath for some reason. not sure if that has anything to do with doing these exercises or not, but im always taking deep breaths randomly because i dont realize that im sort of out of air
- 6y ago
- rak 6y agoI hope someone comes along and creates another version of the Spire breathing device. I am still using mine and it's a very helpful tool for breathing.
- kyuudou 6y agoWhen one is constantly in "urgent" mode, they tend to forget to breathe slow and deeply and instead breathe shallow and fast.
- onemoresoop 6y agoAlways 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.
- tomjakubowski 6y agoWhen I consciously take long, deep breaths, it feels almost like an easing function is applied to it.
- throw1234651234 6y agoThere 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: https://www.colorado.edu/today/2019/02/25/novel-workout-improves-health https://www.colorado.edu/today/2019/02/25/novel-workout-impr... More on that topic here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22656799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22656799 Does anyone have a guide to how to actually do these exercises?
- elric 6y agoFirst 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. The linked study does 30 inhalations per session.
- throw1234651234 6y agoYea, thanks, I bought the device used in the study, wasn't sure if there was more to it.
- bpodgursky 6y agoThe 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.
- toohotatopic 6y agoWhy would it bind more tightly?
- bpodgursky 6y agoHigh ph is my understanding from what I've read, but I am not a chemist.
- xkapastel 6y agoThis is bad news, as it seems my nose is constantly blocked. No idea why.
- Cactus2018 6y agoThis works for me. blow out all the air from your lungs. hold your breath and pinch your nose. exhale more air (and more and more) attempt to breath in through your nose (against the pinch) hold your breath even longer. (optional aerobic activity to use up the last oxygen (pushups, running)) when you can't hold any more (hold a little longer) Physiologically internal parts will constrict to open up the airways. Finally release the pinch and inhale only through the nose. (airways open; ears pop, mucus loosens)
- daralthus 6y agoI also found this helps. Basically hold your breath till you feel it becoming uncomfortable. Hold for just a few more seconds (but no need to pass out). A reflex will kick in and open your airways.
- rudolph9 6y agoI help out with a festival literally called “Breathe” https://www.discoverbreathe.com/ 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!
- sg47 6y agoA 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 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.
- nishnik 6y agoThe 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. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26533127-the-oxygen-advantage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26533127-the-oxygen-adva...
- amiga_500 6y agoI have fairly narrow nostrils and have a hard time imagining this!
- mckirk 6y agoI feel the same, and honestly, I think it's a major disadvantage. Being able to breathe through your nose exclusively even while exercising seems insane to me.
- amiga_500 6y agoThe general principal may be fine. My narrow nostrils are one of several genetic reasons why I would be more likely to be eaten by a tiger than many. So I'm not in the upper percentiles that this advice is likely aimed at!
- michaelcampbell 6y agoThat book lost me when he started in on the "acid diet". (Not that I don't understand it, but rather I believe it's been soundly refuted.)
- simsla 6y agoI'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. :-)
- ALittleLight 6y agoHave 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.
- tartoran 6y agoI came to the conclusion that poor breathing habits are somehow connected to poor posture, mainly of the neck and the ribcage. I've had some poor breathing habits myself and doing deep breathing exercises incorrectly actually messed me up even worse for about a week or so. Yeah, that wasn't fun at all but it went away eventually. In the end I ended up concentrating more on posture and that seemed to correct the breathing as well. I find myself sitting in a poor posture from time to time and notice the breathing becomes limited and shallow as well.
- 6y ago
- yawningtears 6y agoHow do u read this?
- amelius 6y agoI've noticed that my breathing pattern changes during work. I'd be interested in a device that can detect breathing type (diaphragmatic/costal) and warns me in time if any changes occur.
- stanislavb 6y agoFor 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. https://www.wimhofmethod.com/ https://www.wimhofmethod.com/
- ryeights 6y agoThis smells like BS. I scrolled through the entire home page and it doesn’t even attempt to explain what the “Wim Hof method” is.
- mettamage 6y agoI Mettamage, first of my name (yes! Always wanted to do that), declare on the interwebs as a random person that I was a test subject in the following study: https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379 https://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7379 True story :) I guess it helps that: - My name is mettamage (metta = loving-kindness in Buddhism). So I'm into this stuff (read search inside yourself for the science on meditation). - Like Wim, I'm Dutch: Nederlands is mijn moedertaal en ik ben pienter genoeg om Engels te spreken ;-) Soms ben ik een flierefluiter ^^ (Google Translate won't get that right, haha) - I have mentioned it before (it's somewhere in my HN history). TL;DR - what I did in Poland for 4 training days: 1. Breathing Techniques: the most important one is a lot like hyperventilation but not the same (!). Explanation: I couldn't find a good YouTube video quick as even Wim himself isn't explaining it well on YouTube, IMO. He explained it way differently than me. The WHM is a lot like this video, except it's quite quick and not this seemingly relaxing breathing stuff: https://youtu.be/nzCaZQqAs9I?t=137 https://youtu.be/nzCaZQqAs9I?t=137 2. Cold exposure training (including breathing technique) 3. Walking up a mountain for 2.5 hours (-7 degrees celsius) in my shoes and shorts. I was fine. It was a lot of fun as well. The adrenaline was high and insanely awesome. Thrill seekers love this stuff. Then afterwards we got tested with an endotoxin. Normally you get an immune response. People who did the WHM had a 50% reduced immune respons and a lot of adrenaline. They think it's because of the shit ton of cortison that we produce while doing the WHM. A lot of cortisol --> weakened immune response. --- A YouTube video about the science of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWHRumILOOk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWHRumILOOk The WHM made me a 10% happier person because I never have to worry about the cold ever again. The cold can be uncomfortable still, but it's a lot of fun because I have some control about it now!
- helij 6y ago4 seconds breathe in -> 4 seconds hold -> 4 seconds expel air -> 4 seconds hold and repeat 4+ times... ...works for me every time Some call it zen, some call it breathing exercises or whatever. Try it.
- quickthrower2 6y agoIs this for all awake time, or during a practice that you do for so many minutes a day?
- helij 6y agoThis is for whenever I need to slow down for whatever reason. I don't do it every day. I am not a believer in spiritual so this is a completely mechanic breathing exercise for me and I can immediately feel my heart rate going down and overall better feel.
- chiefgeek 6y agoI use this several times a week to help me get to sleep. I count to 112 or so. 75% of the I'm usually asleep within five minutes of finishing. Not always, though.
- hnick 6y agoHave you tried counting backwards from a big number like 5000? I had a guided meditation once that used this method. The longer number and slightly higher cognitive load is apparently useful to distract your brain from distracting thoughts and imagery. Just enough work to keep it busy but relaxed. I lost track a lot, they said just pick the last number you remember without trying too hard and continue.
- chiefgeek 6y agoHaven't tried that. Sounds cool! Thanks.
- dayvid 6y agoI'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.
- fnord77 6y agowhat sort of exercises? is there a particular technique?
- Guest42 6y agoFor a while I dove into this topic heavily and it seemed that most of the resources I’ve found were good and surprisingly similar as the sample size got larger. Initially I was pretty skeptical about some being less authentic but that mattered less as I’ve gone on. Sorry for avoiding the question, but I’d say doing some research will reveal its own path that will be somewhat personal and different than others’.
- hammock 6y agoThe most basic one I have seen everywhere, in different forms, is to A)focus on the breath, or a part of the body affected by breath like your lips or chest or stomach B)diaphragmatic breathing in thru nose and out thru mouth C)inhale for x seconds, hold for x seconds, exhale for x seconds, hold for x seconds, repeat And over time train x seconds to become longer and longer. You might start with 4 or 6 seconds at first.
- newyankee 6y agosearch for Pranayam, it is a very popular Indian technique and closely related to Yogic exercises as well
- prox 6y agoI can heartily recommend the book “the healing power of breath” , easy technique (adapted from yoga) and no need to think about all sorts of steps, just the breath rhythm you need to “get” It also comes with audio tracks.
- quickthrower2 6y agoI 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!
- gen220 6y agoI run daily, about 20-30 miles a week. 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 6y agoHighly recommend "box breathing" as well. I've found this app to be great for both meditation and breathing exercises: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/oak-meditation-breathing/id1210209691 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/oak-meditation-breathing/id121... Additional links: - https://time.com/4316151/breathing-technique-navy-seal-calm-focused/ https://time.com/4316151/breathing-technique-navy-seal-calm-... - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJazKtH_9I - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZzhk9jEkkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZzhk9jEkkI
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y agoWhat works for me is harmonious breathing: https://www.harmoniousbreathing.com/ https://www.harmoniousbreathing.com/ - basically retraining our muscles to enhance deeper more complete breathing. It doesn't claim to make miracles, it just makes you feel better.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- nateburke 6y agoI find that paying attention to the transition from inhalation to exhalation is particularly useful in assessing my current emotional state. Focusing on _allowing_ the natural elasticity of my lungs take care of initiating exhalation -- this will usually be enough to change my mood in a positive way.
- mindfulgeek 6y agoI've been practicing with the breath since I recovered from cancer about a decade ago. I credit it with saving my life in many ways.
- User23 6y agoFor me, lifting heavy weights three days a week fixed my posture, heart rate, and breathing issues. Back exercises like deadlifts and barbell rows were especially helpful for countering the tendency to hunch forward due to computer use. The endorphin release is also a great mood booster. I say this because it makes me wonder about the causality. I’m not convinced breathing exercises by themselves do much good for physical health, but rather that good breathing habits are a consequence of overall good health.
- bob1029 6y agoHeavy weight training is the only thing that has ever 100% fixed me. Trying to get back into it right now.
- elric 6y agoI really miss lifting weights. Gyms have been closed for three months due to the pandemic, and I can feel my muscle mass evaporating. I can do some bodyweight exercises at home, but there's no room for weights in a tiny flat :-(.
- mydongle 6y agoBuy a pair of adjustible weight dumbbells. There's a wealth of workouts you can do with just those. I keep them in a corner of my room. Takes up basically no space.
- ChuckNorris89 6y agoProblem is they're out of stock everyone since the pandemic.
- AriseAndPass 6y agoI know bodyweight is no perfect substitute and you probably already know this, but you can still have progressions of bodyweight exercise variants in a way that mimics progressive overload of weight to some extent. Check out the infographic here - http://www.startbodyweight.com/2014/01/basic-routine-infographic-poster.html http://www.startbodyweight.com/2014/01/basic-routine-infogra... - 8 types of exercise with progressively tougher variants. If nothing else it helps keeps things interesting
- downerending 6y agoReally interesting. But at the same time, after four zillion years of evolution, we still don't breathe in a reasonably optimal way?
- chiznuggets 6y agoExactly, 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.
- carapace 6y agoIt'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.)
- yakattak 6y agoI can’t read the whole article because of the paywall, but I wanted to talk about how COVID-19 has impacted my mental health, and it has very much to do with breathing. I have always had bad pollen allergies and I have always had moderate anxiety. I live alone. Great family and friends but over the past few months I was completely isolated. One morning, I felt a tickle in my throat, I was able to tell myself that it was just from post nasal drip and not COVID related. Well, later that night I started to experience shortness of breath, chest tightness/pain. Then, my limbs started to tingle and go numb and lastly my face. I walked outside for one and a half hours at 10:00 PM, identifying three sounds, three sights and three body parts. I finally calmed myself down from what I learned was an anxiety attack. I suffered multiple episodes of this for 5-6 nights. It was almost always triggered by a thought that I couldn’t breathe or I wasn’t getting enough air or that my chest was tight. It got to the point where I couldn’t function, broke down into tears and at twenty-six years old, I went back to my parents house. I have been here for about a month. I had a couple minor episodes here, my parents were able to talk me out of it. I was also prescribed medication for the anxiety (so far this has been a tremendous help). One day, I didn’t feel anxious at all but I noticed that I couldn’t take a full deep breath most of the time. My parents told me it’s allergies, but the thought in the back of my mind that it was the virus or worse was always there. I called my doctor again, he prescribed me singulair. It’s helped considerably but every time now that I take a deep breath I am extra thoughtful about it. I’ve been meditating and doing breathing exercises as often as I remember now and it has helped. That being said, even if I don’t actually get the virus, this virus has taken a toll on me and my mental health. The isolation, not being in an office and hypochondria have negatively impacted me in ways I never would have imagined. However, I’m stronger for it now.
- Grimm1 6y agoAt 25 with post nasal drip and asthma, I had the same experience I was alone in my Brooklyn apartment for 9 weeks. I had the same progression and my first real experience with panic attacks and am now also at my parent's house but I've been here for less than 2 weeks so far. This read like my experience entirely. This whole thing has really taken a toll and before this I wasn't really one to panic about anything.
- jacobwilliamroy 6y agoDid you all know that humans need oxygen to survive? And that the ways we consume oxygen can affect our health?
- carapace 6y agoYou condensed the entire history of Western civilization into a tweet... "Discovered atomic bomb, didn't notice breathing."
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- _xerces_ 6y agoBehind the paywall: https://outline.com/Y2nTEK https://outline.com/Y2nTEK (Copy WSJ link, paste into bitly to shorten, then paste shortened url into outline.com)
- lattalayta 6y agoFor 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 https://i.imgur.com/Huou7Gh.gif
- new_guy 6y agoFor anyone interested in this (and not the broken bastardised Western versions you'll find on youtube) check out: The Hindu‑Yogi Science of Breath http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1903sciencebreath.pdf http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1903sciencebreath....
- elric 6y agoA 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 ...
- Mirioron 6y agoIt 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.
- nprateem 6y agoUnless you've studied chi kung or pranayama or similar you've no idea what the breath holds in store. It's more than just the mechanics of rate or depth of breathing. You need to learn to relax and engage your attention to really connect with the subtler aspects of it. Energy Work by Robert Bruce is probably the best introduction.
- iovrthoughtthis 6y agoBreathing 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.
- johnchristopher 6y agoYears ago I read that you had to breath out more than you breath in, like "you give more to the world than you take from it". Fine and all but since then I can't help thinking about my breathing and I think it messed up my natural way of breathing.
- Noumenon72 6y agoAs an altruist, I breathe out only. Never in. I can't see any way this is possible. The amount you breathe out is dictated by how much your lung volume increased when you breathe in. If you breathe out for more total time than you breathe in, you are just spreading the same breath over a longer time by restricting outflow.
- johnchristopher 6y agoReally ? Of course it's another way to say `breath out slower than breathing in`. That you believed I suggested the laws of physics could be so easily dismissed is beyond me. Jeez.
- cammil 6y ago"Take a deep breath", and suddenly your whole mood has been adjusted.
- lihaciudaniel 6y agoThis is why I love hacker news, I learnt that just breathing 30 seconds is able to averse from any vice or bad craving. It's like the matrix
- mensetmanusman 6y agoThe kid’s show ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ has lots of great songs for children, and one of them we use at home is the: ‘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 :)
- TopHand 6y agoHow 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.
- artsyca 6y agoTotally 100 million % 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
- brainzap 6y agoI noticed I am doing flat breaths most of the time, I guess because of all the smoke in the city etc.
- hi41 6y agoHas anyone tried Sudharshan Kriya from Art of Living? How has it helped you?
- InnerGargoyle 6y agoleave the cult and start practising yoga on your own..
- elif 6y agofully in, letting go
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]