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Show HN: Breathe – Peripheral Breath Trainer
- hartator 6y agoThat's awesome. Is there a way to custom speed or it's actually what you should aim at? It feels super slow for me.
- kioleanu 6y agoThat's actually how it should be. I think you should aim for 4 to 5 breaths per minute, I don't remember the exact number. The technique is described by Kelly McGonigal in "The Willpower Instict" as being the only scientifically proven "quick hack" to make your brain relax and focus.
- hartator 6y agoInteresting. I'll give a try now!
- filipeisho 6y agoYes! I hardcoded the app to make 4 seconds breathing in, 4 seconds holding your breath, 4 seconds breathing out and 4 seconds holding your breath again.
- JohnKacz 6y agoPerhaps instead of allowing full control you could have different modes? I like using the 4-7-8 Method[1] but there are lots of different breath exercises. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-C_VNM1Vd0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-C_VNM1Vd0
- filipeisho 6y agoI am quite new to breathing exercises but I also like the 4-7-8 exercise a lot! I was thinking about implementing the most known exercises and then have the option to create your own exercises. A lot of people have been pointing out that the app was way too slow and that it was difficult for them to keep up... I think that maybe if they can increase progressively the duration with custom exercises they can adapt better (it's just a theory)
- prox 6y agoAccording to the book “the healing power of breath” , the rhythm depends also somewhat on body size. So that is a variable to take into account. They use this coherence clock : https://coherence.com/coherence_clock.html https://coherence.com/coherence_clock.html
- filipeisho 6y agoThat is the next thing I am going to implement! There are several breathing exercises but normally (breathing in, breathing out...) the duration of each part is 4+ seconds.
- nrjklk 6y agoYes. This feels quite slow for me too. The option to customize the speed would great!
- flaque 6y agoI love this
- filipeisho 6y agoThanks!
- ghostbrainalpha 6y agoSo simple and such a good idea. Have you noticed a difference in your anxiety or productivity?
- mlkmt 6y agoI've tried it for a little bit and it was great!
- filipeisho 6y agoI have been using it all day and I felt way calmer. For me (I think I am a fast breather) it feels like I am meditating when I am able to follow the breathing exercise. Since it has been a day since I started using it I can't tell anything about productivity but what I can tell you I have been working happier :)
- mopierotti 6y agoVery cool. It would be nice if it was cross-platform, but I understand that that would have been a bit beyond your 5 minute scope. (I use Mac, Windows, and Linux roughly the same amount daily)
- schwinn140 6y agoAgreed! How about possibly converting this to an in-browser web app to get around the platform hurdles?
- lozf 6y agoyou might like https://quietkit.com/box-breathing/ https://quietkit.com/box-breathing/
- filipeisho 6y agoSomeone on the comments implemented a chrome extension that opens up a gif with the same ratios as breathe (4-4-4). It works great to be honest. Here is the link: https://github.com/b3ting/breathe https://github.com/b3ting/breathe
- guzik 6y agoHow about having a real-time feedback regarding your breathing rate?
- weego 6y agoAnd how would it know your breathing rate?
- adrianN 6y agoYou can probably hack something using a camera.
- guzik 6y agoIt should be pretty simple actually. A 0-cost solution is to use a microphone from your laptop. Another one is to use a chest strap with respiration sensor. Shameless plug, I even made one for recording breathing - but it's rather for professional use (you can check it out under my profile).
- rks404 6y agoApple Watch but tied around your throat?
- nrjklk 6y agolol
- weego 6y agoThere's a similar visual shared on mental health discords when people are suffering anxiety or panic attacks, though granted likely with a less accurate breath cycle https://media1.tenor.com/images/80b6db690c2f50bd9a876ca0f70e82d6/tenor.gif?itemid=8455215 https://media1.tenor.com/images/80b6db690c2f50bd9a876ca0f70e...
- jedimastert 6y agoI just saw an EDC video[0] that featured a Komuso Shift[1], which is basically just a small metal tube that acts as a regulator to slow your breathing. I don't know what component of HackerNews enjoys "luxury" EDC items, but the idea of a hysical breath regulator is somewhat interesting to me. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMGOfKdHQg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMGOfKdHQg [1]: https://www.komusodesign.com/ https://www.komusodesign.com/
- evanlivingston 6y agoYo, is that an $85 dollar straw?
- apazzolini 6y agoPerfect candidate for a Valley Silicon pick on Front End Happy Hour, paging Jem Young
- HumblyTossed 6y agoWhy yes, yes it is an $85 dollar straw.
- jedimastert 6y agoThat's why I put "luxury" in quotes. I love the idea; I would never ever buy one
- amelius 6y ago> which is basically just a small metal tube that acts as a regulator to slow your breathing. I'm curious if COVID facemasks have a similar beneficial effect on breathing.
- prox 6y agoAnd you can do the same by simply pursing your lips :)
- geoelectric 6y agoI love this. I have ADHD and anxiety/stress issues where having occasional reminders to concentrate on myself and get back in touch with things like this actually really helps. One quick comment. Aside from speed control, which wouldn't be terrible, being able to resize it or park it in my menu bar (prefer that) would go a long way towards usability.
- ultrasounder 6y agoActually on the same boat. Acute ADHD(undiagnosed),anxiety induced by constant worries about being judged. This will def help. Might even make something using React(an excuse to learn).
- filipeisho 6y agoI am glad you like it! This was a quick demo to see if it was useful for someone. I was hoping to implement the same idea on the menu bar and on the touch bar (for people who find a window annoying). A quick question: Why would you like to resize the window? To make it bigger or smaller?
- geoelectric 6y agoSmaller. I just need to see a hint in my peripheral vision to know I should use it, and only need it to be very obvious while I am using it. If you parked it in the menu bar, I could drop it down like a hanger when I needed it. I probably would not suggest pulsing the menu bar icon itself or at least making that optional. Having something constantly pulsing in the corner of my eye wouldn't be great for flow. Having an occasional reminder to drop down the hanger might be nice though.
- interleave 6y agoI had the exact same experience. I put together a bare-bones menu bar app for macOS. See my comment above for the link! Edit: It does pulse within the menu bar which works for me, please let me know if you find it distracting.
- michaelbruce 6y agoCool! Breathing ex are so powerful. I founded moonbird which is a personalised breathing trainer! Http://www.moonbird.life
- owly 6y agohttps://apps.apple.com/us/app/awesome-breathing-pacer-timer/id1453087953 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/awesome-breathing-pacer-timer/... I’ve been using Awesome Breathing. Presumptuous name but simple and does the job.
- voisin 6y agoFor those interested, James Nestor’s book, “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” [0] is absolutely fantastic on this subject. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890486 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48890486
- pivo 6y agoNice! I've been using for the last 10 minutes and find I sometimes miss the visual cues on my big monitor. It might be nice to have an option for subtle audible cues as well.
- filipeisho 6y agoI tried some iOS apps and some of them had audible cues as very low chords (they were very relaxing) but since I am someone that listens to music a lot I thought they would bother other people... Quick question: imagine I have a magic way to make you not miss any visual cues from the app, do you think it would still be nicer to have audible cues?
- pivo 6y agoNot knowing what you're thinking about makes it hard to answer that question but I'd be happy to give it a try!
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- Kiro 6y agoCan't breathe this slow even if I try. I normally breathe 30 times a minute.
- UncleOxidant 6y agoThat's a full breath cycle every 2 seconds? You're hyperventilating.
- Kiro 6y agoYes, a full breath cycle every 2 seconds but pretty small breaths. It doesn't feel like I'm hyperventilating. Trying to breath slower makes me dizzy like I'm not getting enough air and trying to breath as slow as this app feels like I'm choking. I'm healthy overall and really surprised that my breathing is considered so abnormal.
- bilbopotter 6y agoIf it works for you at forty I wouldn't worry. It's generally for people who get anxiety that they say slow the breath down. It's to do with things like cortisol release and heart rate. If it ain't broke don't fix it. I assume you're able to do decent amounts of exercise and don't find yourself out of breath when doing regular things like going for a walk or going upstairs?
- GavinMcG 6y agoIf you're breathing both in and out 30 times per minute, you should probably speak to a doctor. There are a number of medical concerns that could be behind that, and rapid (and therefore shallow) breaths can fail to rid the body of carbon dioxide, making your blood overly acidic.
- Kiro 6y ago> making your blood overly acidic. What are the symptoms of that? I'm almost 40 and never had any health issues so far. The breaths are shallow but I'm surprised to hear my breathing is abnormal so I should probably speak to a doctor.
- amar-laksh 6y agoKISS Solution for Linux: imv breathe.gif -> imv: https://github.com/eXeC64/imv https://github.com/eXeC64/imv (or any other really lightweight gif viewer) -> breathe.gif: https://quietkit.com/img/box-breathing-4x-v03.gif https://quietkit.com/img/box-breathing-4x-v03.gif -> Set it to a custom shortcut and press q to close window.
- b3ting 6y agoI put this gif into a floating window, with a chrome extension using the Picture-in-Picture API: https://googlechrome.github.io/samples/picture-in-picture/ https://googlechrome.github.io/samples/picture-in-picture/ Chrome extension: https://github.com/b3ting/breathe https://github.com/b3ting/breathe
- filipeisho 6y agoI love it! I thought it wasn't going to stay on top when I switched to another app but it did, it works great
- user68858788 6y agoThank you for making this.
- filipeisho 6y agoWow! This is a really straight forward solution to run something like breathe on linux, really cool! Do you mind if I put this as an alternative on the readme while I code up a cross-platform solution?
- amar-laksh 6y agoSure! I was about to code one myself in Rust as practice but then realised this path just requires minimal dependencies and a one liner haha.
- prox 6y agoJust a side note, based on my experience and reading “the healing power of breath” , it might be that if you are below average size or above average size, the optimal rhythm might be different for you.
- apazzolini 6y agoIt would be cool to control Phillips Hue bulbs on this cadence as more of a background cue to breathe
- nrjklk 6y agoThis is great! I think this would be quite cool as a chrome plugin (solves cross platform issue). You could also make the circle bigger every 20 mins or so to remind you to breathe and avoid distractions. Kindof like a pomodoro timer but where the break is breathing.
- filipeisho 6y agoHi, I am glad you like it! Someone on the comments implemented a chrome extension that opens up a gif with the same ratios as breathe (4-4-4). It works great to be honest. Here is the link: https://github.com/b3ting/breathe https://github.com/b3ting/breathe I think that the idea of breathe reminding you to do breathing exercises during regular intervals is great!
- hombre_fatal 6y agoIt should change color (even just shade) as a function of its radius so you can learn where it is in the cycle from deep peripheral vision.
- filipeisho 6y agoYou are totally right. I am going to implent that feature, after using it for a while I realised that depending on the background it was hard to tell if the ball was growing or shrinking
- Royalaid 6y agoJust to add to this idea, it's important to understand when the circle is near the start or end especially. I found myself not sure when to start breathing and not sure when to stop. I think the color idea will definitely help but sure if this specifically addresses this issue. Either way very cool idea for an app
- nsomaru 6y agoHow would this work? My understanding is that there’s no colour in peripheral vision. I guess a change in shade/intensity would be enough?
- BugWatch 6y agoThere is minimal color, yes, but I suppose one's brain will learn to "fake it" once it figures out size-color correlation during those times you're paying it direct attention.
- boncom99 6y agoIt's so cool! I've been trying it for a few hours and it really work! Good job!
- interleave 6y agoI love this so much. Thank you! Especially for the "peripheral" part: For me it works better to "check-in" to the ongoing process once in a while than having to remember to start an app etc. What didn't work for me was the window-based approach because I could never find a good place to keep it. For whatever reason, I happen to use all four corners of my screen all the time (!). But I still wanted to have something peripheral! So with your inspiration, I created a basic MacOs Menu Bar application that animates the 4:4:4 ratio breathing. This works better for me personally now. -> https://github.com/akaalias/menu-bar-breathing https://github.com/akaalias/menu-bar-breathing