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

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

#101

Post by _yb2s »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #90
_yb2s wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a feedback loop that characterizes the stress/anxiety response, where people breathe faster, which in turn increases the stress response, causing even faster breathing. People with chronic anxiety also develop decreased CO2 tolerance over time[1] from this rapid breathing, perpetuating the chronic rapid breath. Breath exercises that increase CO2 tolerance like Buteyko breathing allow one to interrupt this pr…

I recently came across this by accident and your explanation jives. I noticed I would get fairly fatigued, and have to take a nap around 11am every morning, and eventually found that it was basically every 4-5 hours, even mid-day too. I would take a 10-20m power nap and usually wake up feeling really good, I would even hit REM in that time. Then a few months ago, I noticed when I was having this feeling I was usually…

WOW this post resonates with me on so many levels. Thank you so much for writing it out!

-I have the exact same issue, I feel overwhelming fatigue that lifts with a 10 minute nap, and need to do it many times per day. I work from home, and can't really work in person because without a nap I just crash, despite getting a good nights sleep -My girlfriend pointed out that I normally breath unusually fast and shallow, about twice as fast as her -I've had some very traumatic experiences in the last few years that I still haven't dealt with fully. Around the time of these experiences I couldn't sleep well because I had to constantly get up to urinate, and also at the same time felt an "air hunger" where I felt no amount of breathing was enough

Could you recommend something specific to start working on with these things? I actually just started reading the Mate book "The Myth of Normal" but haven't gotten very far in it yet.

It seems like there are quite a few people here discovering these things, I wish we could form a discussion group or something.

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

#103

Post by lukko »

curun1r wrote: post #99

I’ve done a lot of freediving training and your app is now my fourth breathing app on my phone, so I may be an outlier, but in trying a few exercises in your app, I found that it was going way too quickly and causing me to over-breathe (hyperventilate) and get light headed. I played with the settings a bit and, while it helped, it was still nowhere near the right timing for me. It’s interesting and beautifully done,…

Thanks for the feedback and that's interesting - I wonder if your free-diving training has something to do with it - I guess you must be very attuned to feelings of hyperventilation before a long dive? If it feels like you're hyperventilating, you could try turning down the breath volume (to low) and increasing the sensitivity (to high). The standard box and rectangle breathing are relatively short breath phases and holds - the Deluxe version unlocks all the visuals, gives more progress data and does include some much longer breath phases. I would like to add custom timings too, so people can set their own exercise.

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

#104

Post by [deleted] »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #90
_yb2s wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a feedback loop that characterizes the stress/anxiety response, where people breathe faster, which in turn increases the stress response, causing even faster breathing. People with chronic anxiety also develop decreased CO2 tolerance over time[1] from this rapid breathing, perpetuating the chronic rapid breath. Breath exercises that increase CO2 tolerance like Buteyko breathing allow one to interrupt this pr…

I recently came across this by accident and your explanation jives. I noticed I would get fairly fatigued, and have to take a nap around 11am every morning, and eventually found that it was basically every 4-5 hours, even mid-day too. I would take a 10-20m power nap and usually wake up feeling really good, I would even hit REM in that time. Then a few months ago, I noticed when I was having this feeling I was usually…

[deleted]

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

#105

Post by nick__m »

wjnc wrote: post #87
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…

As a permanent snorer and nose cold sufferer several tips in that book worked wonders for me. I already had a good set of lungs and low breathing rhythm thanks to swimming, but a few weeks of sleeping with my mouth taped shut and attention to my jaw posture solved quite some issues. (N=1 YMMV etc)

+1 For tapping the mouth shut. I used to snore and wake up tired now that I use 3M-1530-2 tape I wake up refreshed. So N is now equal to 2 !

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

#106

Post by curun1r »

phaedrus441 wrote: post #100
curun1r wrote: post #99

I’ve done a lot of freediving training and your app is now my fourth breathing app on my phone, so I may be an outlier, but in trying a few exercises in your app, I found that it was going way too quickly and causing me to over-breathe (hyperventilate) and get light headed. I played with the settings a bit and, while it helped, it was still nowhere near the right timing for me. It’s interesting and beautifully done,…

Interesting feedback. What apps do you prefer?

My favorite is an app called ApneaTrainer. It has two different breathing patterns, but I do the 1-4-2 pattern for 30 min, 3 times a week. It helps you set your level as you improve. I’ve mostly plateaued at level 16, but I still find it useful for maintaining my level and I love the post workout calmness that I get.

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

#107

Post by thenerdhead »

Cool to see a wellness app that appeals to the dopamine dressing generation and modern day challenges where breath work is proven to help.

While it is my personal opinion that the visuals are distracting from the purpose of breath work, I understand it will help someone discover that beauty with time.

If you found a way to combine a proprietary device like the PowerBreathe into a breathing exercise app and provided recommendations/trainings, I think it would appeal more to me.

Best of luck!

https://www.powerbreathe.com/

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

#108

Post by jackschultz »

nick__m wrote: post #105
wjnc wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a permanent snorer and nose cold sufferer several tips in that book worked wonders for me. I already had a good set of lungs and low breathing rhythm thanks to swimming, but a few weeks of sleeping with my mouth taped shut and attention to my jaw posture solved quite some issues. (N=1 YMMV etc)

+1 For tapping the mouth shut. I used to snore and wake up tired now that I use 3M-1530-2 tape I wake up refreshed. So N is now equal to 2 !

+2 for taping mouth shut.

I read the book a week ago, said, why not. Instant improvement. Before, I'd have to wake up to go to the bathroom every night for the past 10 years, and when I woke up I'd have this eye pain every day leading to these giant eye bags. On top of those, if I didn't get that last sleep cycle in, I'd have to take a nap to get rid of this weird headache which made the time in the morning before nap seem pointless. In the book he mentioned how face skin can improve, and less bathroom in the middle of the night because apparently the body releases something to tell the body to hold water because we're sleeping. Mouth breating at night didn't cause this to happen.

I did the mouth tape and instantly, first night and every night in the past week, eye pain is gone, I don't have get up to use the bathroom, and the amount of consistent energy is absurd compared to before.

Seriously, I want to shout it out to everyone to tape their mouths at night.

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

#109

Post by prepend »

I watched the video on your site and the graphics are neat but I have no idea what your app does.

I use the free Oak app (with no fees anywhere, it’s just one of Kevin Rose’s old hobby projects) for its basic breathing exercises.

What does “respond to every breath mean?” The video shows someone holding the phone up to their face but I’m not sure that will work for breathing exercises as I’m usually trying to sit and relax and not even holding the phone.

I’m glad you’ve built this app and that you’re seeking feedback. I’d suggest less “marketing blargh” and just some examples of the app in use.

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

#110

Post by TylerE »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #90
_yb2s wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a feedback loop that characterizes the stress/anxiety response, where people breathe faster, which in turn increases the stress response, causing even faster breathing. People with chronic anxiety also develop decreased CO2 tolerance over time[1] from this rapid breathing, perpetuating the chronic rapid breath. Breath exercises that increase CO2 tolerance like Buteyko breathing allow one to interrupt this pr…

I recently came across this by accident and your explanation jives. I noticed I would get fairly fatigued, and have to take a nap around 11am every morning, and eventually found that it was basically every 4-5 hours, even mid-day too. I would take a 10-20m power nap and usually wake up feeling really good, I would even hit REM in that time. Then a few months ago, I noticed when I was having this feeling I was usually…

This resonates a lot for me. My nose has never worked right. Like, for instance when I get nosebleeds it always come out of the same nostril 100%.
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