
Proper Breathing Brings Better Health - pseudolus
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/
======
brightball
I had a nasal problem that I didn’t know about until I tried breath right
strips. Wearing those things was life changing for me. I felt like a different
person and honestly can’t believe I spent my entire life not realizing I had a
problem.

Eventually got it fixed permanently, but yea...breathing is huge.

EDIT: The problem I had was called Nasal Valve Collapse. It’s something that
happens in much older people, but essentially if I inhaled hard through my
nose my nostrils collapsed so I’d have to breath through my mouth. It made
aerobic exercise very difficult, taking deep breaths in general too.

I discovered how big of a deal it was when I tried on of those 9 Round gyms in
my early 30s. The 1st round is jump rope and it tore my throat up. I was so
exhausted after 3 minutes of jump rope that the rest of the workout was
basically awful. I came back the next week (my throat was really sore for a
week) with a Breathe Right strip on to see if it helped. I did the whole
workout, jump rope included, like it was nothing.

After I saw the difference, I tried sleeping in them and woke up more alert
than I had in recent memory. Great night sleep. Then eventually, I tried just
wearing one all day when I was working from home and it was significant by the
end of the day.

There was a point where I just realized that I felt so much better wearing
them that I was literally wearing them all the time, including in the office.

Eventually I decided to visit an E.N.T. who diagnosed me and gave me a couple
of surgical options...which were both kinda scary and didn’t have great
success rate. I visited another to get a 2nd opinion and he was confident that
it could be fixed with a slightly modified septoplasty.

I ended up doing the surgery and I’ll go ahead and tell you, the recovery is
awful...but it worked. I still see a marginal benefit from using a Breathe
Right but I probably have 70% of the improvement all the time from where I was
before.

~~~
theprotocol
Thanks for posting this. I've experienced something similar. My nasal passages
have almost always been swollen since I was 11-12. Most ENTs I'd seen over the
last 15-20 years have completely failed to provide me with relief. Earlier in
2018 I visited an ENT who noted that my turbinates were "absolutely massive"
and the rest of the nasal passage was swollen.

Sometimes the swelling would affect the rest of my airway and I'd feel like I
couldn't take even a moderately deep breath. I'd be rushed to the ER but the
doctors couldn't find anything other than an elevated heart rate (and some
immediately went to their go-to diagnosis of it being stress or a panic
attack). After going through that about 10 times, I got a good doctor who told
me: "oh dear, you're actually choking." But then, things like hereditary
angioedema were ruled out, and the cause remained elusive. I later discovered
I could control my symptoms with diet.

I'm now looking into having somnoplasty to reduce the size of my turbinates,
but it's unclear whether doing so will simply shift the problem to another
narrow point of my swollen nasal passage.

I appear to have lost some kind of cosmic lottery because I also have severe
digestive issues and must follow a very strict diet (which also reduces the
airway swelling). As you touched upon, it is very hard to accept that you
spent most of your life not being able to be yourself. I know I spent most of
mine in a subdued fight or flight mode due to the chronic strain on my basic
bodily functions. It's been a cruel existence thus far and I can't wait for
the day I can rid myself of this torture definitively (my plan for fixing my
problems is getting closer to fruition and I've had some success with some of
the measures I've tried).

~~~
jacobolus
I’m curious how often these kinds of symptoms are caused by an undiagnosed
chronic viral infection.

~~~
grawprog
I'm pretty sure i've had a chronic sinus infection for a few years now. When I
was a kid I was told I had narrow sinuses...I used to get ear infections
pretty much any time i got sick. I find they don't drain properly. It always
feels like there's liquid on one side. I can tell days it's worse, the area
below my ear and jaw are warm to the touch and hurt to press.

It comes and goes. The breathe right strips mentioned by another commenter
helps. I find it feels more clear the next day after using them.

But i've found the biggest thing that helps is paying attention to.my stress
and the way I hold the muscles in my face. I find making a concious effort to
takes some time to do some deep breathing and focus on relaxing the muscles
around my eyes and my jaw really helps. A few days of keeping up with that and
I findy breathing and pain and such go away.

I also find it to.be a good way to gauge my stress levels. When the sinus
infection cones back and stays for a bit. I know i've been slacking with being
mindful and letting stress get on top of me.

~~~
jacobolus
Sleep makes a huge difference. Insufficient sleep compromises the immune
system. Sleep deprivation also causes increased anxiety.

------
viburnum
Standing up straight isn't as easy as it sounds. For a lot of desk workers
you're going to have to fix your tight hamstrings, abnormal pelvic tilt, and
weak abdominal muscles before it will be possible to stand up straight.

~~~
Zarath
Sort of anecdotal, but as soon as I started deadlifting I noticed an immediate
improvement in standing posture.

~~~
vidarh
If you have enough flexibility to be _able_ to do deadlifts or squats
properly, then sure, it helps further.

For my part it took months and hurting my back (thankfully not seriously)
before I realized my entire posterior chain was basically too tight for me to
be able to keep my back firm enough to do especially squats, but deadlifts too
to a certain extent, safely at all but the very lightest weights.

Deadlifts and squats with low weight are good ways of seeing if you have
sufficient flexibility, though. If you can't do them with good form even at
low weights, then it's definitively a sign you need to do more stretches.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Flexibility really is a thing; I never knew ankle mobility was my main issue
until a personal trainer pointed it out and made me do some exercises to help
out with that. Knowing it now and knowing what should be possible, I almost
feel like reduced ankle mobility is a disability. It can be improved with
exercises and training, but it's something that needs focus.

~~~
graeme
How did you improve it? My right ankle has been less mobile ever since a
sprain nine years ago.

------
viivaux
I feel like the Wim Hof method ought to be mentioned here. It is imo the
fastest and most direct route to understanding what this article is talking
about.

~~~
sn41
I tried Pranayama for some time, but found it to be very complicated to follow
for 20 minutes at a stretch. In contrast, the Wim Hof method was very easy to
follow. The feeling of increased energy, and the absence of nasal congestion
for a certain period afterwards, was instant. Wim Hof also claims long-term
benefits.

The only drawback I felt was a kind of nervous energy which made it slightly
harder to focus on a long piece of text etc., similar to having too much
coffee in one go.

~~~
nprateem
> The only drawback I felt was a kind of nervous energy which made it slightly
> harder to focus on a long piece of text etc., similar to having too much
> coffee in one go.

Circulate it through the Microcosmic Orbit to balance it. You're driving too
much energy up to your head. You need to bring it back down.

~~~
ramblerman
> Circulate it through the Microcosmic Orbit to balance it

I beg your pardon?

~~~
nprateem
A lot of the more intense breathing practices drive energy upwards into the
head (whatever you want to call "energy" the feeling can be one of
congestion/headaches/stimulation, etc). It's important to draw it back down to
the belly or Earth to reduce this.

Put the tongue on the roof of the mouth and move your awareness from your head
down through your tongue and on down the front centre line about an inch
inside the body. Someone jacked up on some of these breathing practices might
also have over-stimulated their adrenals, so it's also important to
concentrate on relaxing. Once you can go right down the front line, loop back
under the trunk of your body and go up the spine. Just keep moving your
awareness around this loop while relaxing, making sure to finish at the belly.

Failing that, try walking barefoot while allowing yourself to relax more and
more. It should have a similar effect.

~~~
girzel
I've been doing taiji for a couple of years -- interestingly, they also talk
about a cycle of qi that passes down the front of the body, around the
perineum, up the back, and over the head down through the tongue on the roof
of the mouth. This is supposed to be going on during standing meditation. I
haven't experienced it yet, but it's early days for me.

~~~
nprateem
Yeah it's the same thing. Tai Chi and the Microcosmic Orbit are both Taoist
practices. In fact they go together like a hand and a glove - you only see the
glove and that's all a lot of Westerners learn, but it's all about the hand.

You might be interested in "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" by Mantak
Chia [1] (there's also "Healing Light of the Tao" but it goes on a bit and TBH
it isn't very easy to learn from a book).

Tai Chi - like yoga asanas actually - can be done as purely physical
movements, or you can be more mindful and trace your awareness through your
body along these pathways to tap into the energetic/qi level. It goes for any
exercise really - I do it in the gym on the cross-trainers. I just relax more
and more and feel my hip bones pumping tingles up from my feet to my head and
back down. I get off feeling very different compared to just doing it as a
purely physical exercise.

It'd probably only take you a couple of days practice to feel something moving
in the Microcosmic Orbit - definitely not years of practice.

[1] [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Awaken-Healing-Through-Tao-
Circulat...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Awaken-Healing-Through-Tao-Circulating-
ebook/dp/B01NGTUSV4)

~~~
girzel
Thanks for that! I thought you were coming at this from an Indian/Yogic
tradition, and I guess the confluence is less surprising if it all comes from
Daoism.

My teacher is very much about awareness and the way it moves through the body;
the interplay of will, qi, and strength. I'm slow mostly because I started out
with some pretty gruesome hip immobility issues, and have treated taiji like
physical therapy for the past two years. I'm only just coming out of the gross
mechanical problems now, and starting to become more aware of the subtler
issues at play.

------
oever
A helper for rhythmic breathing written in CSS. Following this a few minutes
is very calming.

[https://www.vandenoever.info/breathe.html](https://www.vandenoever.info/breathe.html)

------
holri
One of the great things of long distance running is the very, very deep
breathe I get into after approx. half an hour. This feels like a great oxygen
shower. This energizes my whole body and brain for the rest of the day.

------
theatraine
I've been experimenting with mouth taping recently. When I'm able to use it
effectively it does result in a much more restful sleep and my blood pressure
seems to be lower the next day. I believe that the lowered blood pressure is
due to the enhanced nitric oxide absorbed (it's produced in the sinuses).
Unfortunately I'm frequently congested so it's difficult to do this without
the use of a decongestant.

~~~
loceng
Do you eat dairy, soy, and/or bananas? They're all very high mucous producing
foods and can impact breathing significantly.

~~~
vageli
Dairy products do not cause an increase in mucus production but can cause a
thickening of phlegm [0]

[0]: [https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-
cold/e...](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-
answers/phlegm/faq-20058015)

(there are numerous studies supporting the lack of an increase in mucus due to
dairy which can be found by searching "milk mucus increase")

~~~
loceng
This statement is a bit confusing; "Phlegm is a slightly different substance.
It's a form of mucus produced by the lower airways — not by the nose and
sinuses — in response to inflammation. You may not notice phlegm unless you
cough it up as a symptom of bronchitis or pneumonia;" searched "mucus vs.
phlegm" on Google.

Therefore isn't a thickening of phlegm (a form of mucus) an increase in
quantity, therefore we can say it increases?

The doctor who wrote the response in your link is saying "Phlegm is the thick,
sticky mucus that drips down the back of your throat when you have a cold.
Although drinking milk may make phlegm thicker and more irritating to your
throat than it would normally be, milk doesn't cause your body to make more
phlegm. In fact, frozen dairy products can soothe a sore throat and provide
calories when you otherwise may not eat."

However as we just read: "Phlegm ... is a form of mucus produced by the lower
airways — not by the nose and sinuses" \- so it can't be a "Phlegm is the
thick, sticky mucus that drips down the back of your throat when you have a
cold."

So is the doctor wrong? Is Google's top result wrong with its "mucus vs.
phlegm" answer?

Also that link you provided links to no scientific research. The quick search
I did on other scientific research, the methods don't seem too sound for
controls - likewise if mucus production is caused by inflammation - if that
person is only removing say dairy from their diet, however their body already
has significant or "maximum" inflammation (leading to them producing their
maximum amount of mucus they otherwise would) then they're not going to have
an increase simply by adding another inflammatory factor, unless they reduce
inflammation "completely" first.

~~~
vageli
After looking into it a little more, I'm inclined to agree with you just
because I couldn't get any definitive definition on the distinction between
phlegm and mucus.

> Therefore isn't a thickening of phlegm (a form of mucus) an increase in
> quantity, therefore we can say it increases?

I don't necessarily agree with this. You can change the viscosity of water by
adding gelatin, but you didn't add more water to make it thicker.

But I am most certainly not a doctor and I realize I have no idea what exactly
phlegm is!

------
Salamat
Saltwater Washes (Nasal Saline) for Sinusitis helps a lot to clear any
obstruction in the nasal cavity, it helped me breathe better.

------
kovek
For some reason when the chiropractor does some work on my back and neck, I
feel a release of musuc at the top of my nose and it becomes easier to breathe
through it.

Anyone knows why that is?

~~~
didgeoridoo
Placebo. Chiropractic is not real.

~~~
kovek
Maybe the chiropractor can't help my case. However, I do feel this release in
the nose. I have no idea why that is. The placebo in my case might be the
dissipating headache after the "adjustment", but the nose mucus release is
certainly not.

------
randomacct3847
Wildest thing I read lately in Michael Pollen’s How to Change Your Mind was
that breathing in a certain way can induce a trip similar to consuming lsd.

~~~
sooheon
Curious--is this hyperventilation, a la Wim Hof?

~~~
collyw
I read a bit about holotropic breath work, and it seems to go on for 20
minutes or more, while Wim Hof sticks with 30-40 from what I have done with
it.

------
arisAlexis
The article or the whole technique that sounds a bit para-scientific about
normalizing the heart beat is dead wrong. The vagus nerve actually increases
what is called heart rate variability which is a very good thing and even a
longevity/cardiac health marker. The total opposite of making all heart beats
equally distant.

------
feluso
This is nice to know, I do use rhythmic breathing a lot when I try to meditate
and you can inmediately feel the results, but I didn't know at nostril
breathing, I noticed a lot through my life that I've always had difficulty
breathing through either nostrils (it kinda changes), It hasn't give me as
much trouble as other people in the comments, but I've grown paranoid of it
lately and I can't do this technique at all pleasantly, should I have it
checked?

~~~
chki
I can of course not assess your breathing difficulties at all but maybe it's
just the non-pathological
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle)
? Although the Wikipedia article says that usually one should not notice the
effects.

------
nprateem
From a book I read years ago:

"a 1987 survey of cardiac arrests at the Menninger Clinic (quoted with great
regularity in Rodale Press's various publications) reported that all heart
attack victims represented in that survey sample were high chest breathers"

As opposed to belly/abodminal breathers. I can't find the actual survey
though.

~~~
Luc
But why not mention the book's title. Oh look it's 'Path Notes of an American
Ninja Master' \-
[https://books.google.be/books?id=sTTzcNwWqPUC&lpg=PA62&ots=I...](https://books.google.be/books?id=sTTzcNwWqPUC&lpg=PA62&ots=ISv6rlas6N&dq=a%201987%20survey%20of%20cardiac%20arrests%20at%20the%20Menninger%20Clinic%20\(quoted%20with%20great%20regularity%20in%20Rodale%20Press's%20various%20publications\)%20reported%20that%20all%20heart%20attack%20victims%20represented%20in%20that%20survey%20sample%20were%20high%20chest%20breathers%22&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q=a%201987%20survey%20of%20cardiac%20arrests%20at%20the%20Menninger%20Clinic%20\(quoted%20with%20great%20regularity%20in%20Rodale%20Press's%20various%20publications\)%20reported%20that%20all%20heart%20attack%20victims%20represented%20in%20that%20survey%20sample%20were%20high%20chest%20breathers%22&f=false)

Plenty more great quotes to be had in that book, for sure...

~~~
nprateem
Like the part where he recounts his Kundalini awakening experience? Yeah, that
blew me away. Even more when I realised it was real... Oh, and look, he
triggered it - like many yogis - with breathing techniques...

~~~
Luc
It IS amazing what one can do to one's brain just by breathing! The laws of
physics remain unchallenged by this, however.

~~~
nprateem
> The laws of physics remain unchallenged by this, however.

Of course. Who's claiming otherwise?

~~~
Luc
Sorry, I'm out of time and can't engage with this further.

------
bogle
Playing the didjeridu, particularly with circular breathing, is great fun for
learning some good breath control. I'm sure other wind instruments may have
similar benefits (caveat: IANAM - I am not a musician).

------
hi41
Does anyone have experience with Sudarshan Kriya from Art of living? Is it any
good?

~~~
nilsocket
I have never heard of art of living in India.

But sadhguru and ram dev baba were famous in India for yoga and meditation.

Sadhguru speaks in English, if it helps. By the way sadhguru speeches are just
awesome.

[https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en](https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en)

------
sAbakumoff
i read about an awesome breathing exercise here in hn some time ago
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18527251](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18527251)

------
nilsocket
I'm in no way affiliated.

Sadhguru and ram dev baba were famous in India for yoga and meditation.

Sadhguru speaks in English, if it helps. By the way sadhguru speeches are just
awesome.

[https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en](https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en)

~~~
unmole
Please, no. Jaggi Vasudev and Ramkishen Yadav are both quacks if not
charlatans.

> By the way sadhguru speeches are just awesome.

I would have expected to find this opinion on Quora, not HN.

------
scotty79
But breathing helps your body burn. Doesn't deep breathing cause you to turn
to cinder faster?

~~~
dunefox
Ahh, ashen one.

------
oriol11
From my personal experience I can confirm that breathing right makes a big
difference but the article fails to mention one very effective approach in
many cases to improve breathing, septoplasty. Issues you can have due to
breathing defficiently (in my case, using the nose): \- Dehydration \-
Headaches \- Extra energy spent / having to put effort in the task \- Need to
empty / clear your mouth of food, etc so you can breath with your mouth

~~~
scrollaway
I got a septoplasty recently (less than a month ago, still recovering from
surgery) and I can 100% see the difference in my sleep quality.

My non-24 schedule is much closer to normal now. I no longer wake up with a
completely dry tongue / nasty taste in my mouth.

Additionally my surgeon found and got rid of polyps in my nose which were the
cause of my anosmia. I can finally sense smells again.

If you're interested in the surgery, contact an ENT for a diagnosis and a
pneumologist for a sleep study.

------
byproxy
So, I resort to the alternate nostrils technique when I'm having a panic
attack, but I didn't know it was an actual thing until I read this article.
Interesting that I'd pick it up on my own.

