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> The [fMRI imaging] results showed more brain activation and connection during nasal breathing than during oral breathing. That doesn't prove anything. Apart
by tgv 4y ago
> The [fMRI imaging] results showed more brain activation and connection during nasal breathing than during oral breathing.
That doesn't prove anything. Apart from the problems in imaging connections, there's no reason to assume "more brain activation" means better cognitive functioning. Perhaps less is better, since a faster processing leads to a smaller BOLD response. There are more useful statistics in the article: the error rate and the response time. It looks as if "oral" was a bit faster, and had more errors. That might be enough to explain any imaging difference.
Does it mean impaired cognitive function? Well, that would depend on how strong your a prioris are. Is there any reason to assume it does? If not, then this most likely is a chance result. Perhaps oral breathing slightly impaired vision in the scanner or interferes with motor skills. Or perhaps it's the plug in the subjects' noses. This study needs a lot of additional support.
- echelon 4y agoI know the paper is lacking in evidence, but it proposes such an interesting phenomena. It's worth exploring more. It made my mind jump to perhaps a second, potentially worse outcome of mouth breathing - seeding the lung mucosa with oral flora. That seems like it could enhance the spread and inflammation. And cause deleterious downstream impacts such as slightly increased risk of cancer, pulmonary diseases, etc.
- ngoilapites 4y agoReally it can get that bad?
- raphman 4y agoPat Volkerding, Slackware maintainer, suffered from Actinomycosis in 2004 - quite a chilling read [0]. > To help me avoid more tooth decay my dad bought me one of those fancy > rechargable electric toothbrushes that really powers away the plaque. > It also creates a fine aerosol mist of plaque, and I started to wonder > if 4 years of using this brush had caused me to breathe in some of this > plaque mist and moved an infection into my lungs. [0] https://web.archive.org/web/20050206180243/http://www.slackware.com/~volkerdi/PAT-NEEDS-YOUR-HELP.txt https://web.archive.org/web/20050206180243/http://www.slackw...
- moneywoes 4y agoWait toothbrushes are a concern?
- ranger47 4y agoEverything is a concern. It's not often that humanity gets it right the first time, so the trick is to be ready to make changes when new verifiable data comes to light.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 4y agoThank you for saying that. I personally always found it confusing that people at some point simply say 'I am done learning anything new' as if their current model of the world is already perfect. I might understand there is a physical memory limit, but I sincerely doubt it is even scratched for most people. I understand the evolutionary underpinnings for it ( 'what I did got me this far did it not?' ), but it is still not a great excuse for a conscious being.
- zsz 4y agoIt's not as if it's a hard limit, and you become incapable of absorbing additional facts beyond a certain point. If anything, the human mind seems best adapted to ongoing learning, as it seems to store (and discard) information in terms of relational strength.
- mike_hock 4y ago> people at some point simply say 'I am done learning anything new' Yeah, it's not good to do that, but how is that related? The "evolutionary underpinnings" are a sound rationale, not an excuse. Not for completely eschewing new information but being conservative in making changes.
- naasking 4y agoPoor oral hygiene is linked to heart disease too
- tgv 4y agoNote that the experimental blocks were short, in the order of a few minutes, and was mixed between both nasal and oral breathing. Now imagine that whatever cause can spread that rapidly to the brain and have a noticeable effect there. Then orally breathing a full day (which is quite common when you have a cold) would lead to total cognitive degradation. You'd need a very peculiar mechanism to explain why that wouldn't happen.
- shadowgovt 4y agoThere's a massive hole in the methodology. If I tell you "do this complex mental task, oh by the way be conscious of your breathing the whole time," that is going to have impact on your capacity to focus on the task.
- survirtual 4y ago[flagged]
- ClassyJacket 4y agoI would gladly use my nostrils if they would ever work. All the beclometasone in the world doesn't open the stubborn bastards consistently.
- theCrowing 4y agoI got mine expanded via laser surgery was a life changer.
- GoRudy 4y agoWhat is this procedure called? How does one know if they are a good candidate?
- theCrowing 4y agoNasal cavity ventilation expansion and you are probably a good candidate if you have obstructions in the upper airway.
- balaji1 4y agoI have been able to clear nose blocks by intentionally stopping the mouth breathing (which means I’m holding my breath) for several seconds. YMMV.
- soneca 4y agoYour ancestors, not mine. My culture doesn’t have that term. Also, people who have ,e.g. Down Syndrome, whohave both mouth breathing and lower cognitive performance, could explain the existent of the expression without implying that people who do not have Down Syndrome, but breath with their mouths, also have lower cognitive performance. So I guess you just don’t know enough about your ancestors thought process to derive the pretense wisdom from the saying. Also, I always had difficulty breathing through my nose, so it personally bothers me seeing this association. I am happy enough with my cognitive performance, it’s just a matter of stigma.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]