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Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

lungy.app

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Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#51

Post by matsemann »

jfengel wrote: post #43

I can't test your app, since I don't have an iPhone, but I'm hoping you could answer a vaguely related question for me. One of my COVID readings was Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art , by James Nestor. Its author says, "humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly". Like your app, it proposes a lot of breathing exercises. It explains their benefits in terms of increasing CO2 tolerance, and believes that we'v…

One great thing with increasing co2 resistance is I can hold my breath for ~5 minutes and thus freedive / snorkel deep and stay long under water. But other than that I'm not sure, also curious about if it has any more health related benefits.

For practicing breath holding, "co2 tables" is the exercise to go for, btw. I find it very relaxing in a sort of meditative "ignore the burning pain" sense, but not sure I'd recommend it vs the app in the OP hehe.

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#52

Post by awfml »

Designer here— This whole experience is really killer. Fantastic work, truly.

I was not sure what to expect when it requested microphone access, but the way you've done it is really clever.

The interactive tutorial is really cool as well. The visuals, also, are different and fun.

Never seen anything quite like this. Really great work. I'm going to share this with some friends.

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#54

Post by mtalantikite »

First of all, congrats! This looks great. As someone that plays music and has analog synths, I was impressed you even included a tweakable synth!

One thing I was wondering is why the exhale is instructed to be out of the mouth. Does it have to do with needing the airflow to travel past the mic, or is there a medical reason for it? I have a long standing daily Buddhist meditation practice and also have a somewhat intensive yoga practice, and all the pranayama instructions I’ve ever gotten from teachers has been full on nasal breathing. I find it pretty uncomfortable and unnatural to use a mouth exhalation. Also my teachers have always taught me to make the exhale as silent as possible. The only time I’ve been instructed to use a mouth breath is in shitali pranayama, but that’s an inhale, and with lion’s breath.

Anyway, again, it looks great — congrats!

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#55

Post by dom96 »

As a fellow Londoner, thank you! I just gave it a try, it was very relaxing and responsive.

One thing I would suggest, and I know it's a bit of a balancing act, but it's what always irritates me about breathing exercise apps. When it comes to the "Breathe In" and "Breathe Out" instructions, I wish you would hold off on switching to telling me to "Breathe In" when I am still clearly breathing out (which you know based on the microphone). It always makes me feel rushed when I am not perfectly in sync with what the app wants me to do and I feel like the responsive way in which this app works could make this a bit better.

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#58

Post by segh »

Kukumber wrote: post #38

"free with in-app purchases" What a boring future, "pay $9.99 to unlock this secret tip to survive in case you have trouble breathing!" health is not a thing that should available with a pay-wall, we must advocate for a better world

OP was under no obligation to build it in the first place. Arguably the alternative to a $10 app is no app at all.

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#59

Post by alexashka »

This is a bit of a tangent but have there been studies about deep breathing combined with physical movement, relative to just deep breathing?

I've done yoga on and off for a number of years and the synchronization of breath and moderately difficult physical exercise to me, seems like the sweet spot that breathing alone would fail to accomplish.

Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety

#60

Post by lukko »

swamp40 wrote: post #53

The word Lungy grosses me out. Something visceral. I imagine viewing a human organ or the chest being opened. Sorry, but I thought it might help you. If people agree, say something below. If not, I am an oddity and can be ignored.

Yep, it does seem some people don't like the name, which I do understand. I wanted to add a slight lightness to something medical-sounding, I guess trying to make healthcare less intimidating - I'm sorry it has those connotations for you!
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