While this seems to be a good idea judging by the lots of positive comments here, I personally don't get the appeal of using an app to do breathing exercises or meditate. It is such a simple thing to focus on yourself with eyes shut, do some counting in your head without any need for an external device that tells me what to do. For me, the beauty in such exercises is that I can do them anywhere, without any equipment. Having yet another app for this just doesn't feel right, even though it might be somewhat useful to learn new techniques.
Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
211–220 of 223 posts
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
Flutter is just awesome. Can't recommend it enough. Never had an easier time porting UI to so many, different platforms. Flutter alone saved a year of work.
Thanks! Flutter does sound good, I've just started looking into it. Am I right in thinking we would rebuild the UIKit components / views in Flutter and then would be able to use the same UI across platforms (iOS, Android + Web)? And it would still be possible to include the native Apple APIs?
Yes to how you imagine the UI layer, and yes you can definitely target both iOS and Android native APIs with Flutter.
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#213Quick question - when you say you started building this, did you build it yourself or you hired a team? The app and website look great! Just curious about your journey.
Thanks! So, the first year or so (June 20 - Nov 21) was me building the first prototype - learning Figma, Swift and Metal etc. The grants ran from Nov 21 to Mar 22 - I eventually had a team of 3 really great devs working on building out the backend, UI and working on some of the Metal visuals. We launched the first beta in Mar 22, I then spent a few months iterating based on feedback, getting everything together (app store approval, website, videos, adding more visuals) and then eventually launched in Dec '22.
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#214I think it might be useful to develop the app to help assess progress of patients that are being weaned off the ventilator. to get more concrete feedback on their state. and even better to create a customized program for each patient. one of the things I hear about some patients is anxiety.
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#215Congratulations on putting together such a nicely designed app. I definitely noticed the quick download time when I installed it to check it out.
I run a medical device software development firm. I'm a software engineer who has moved into the medical-device regulatory affairs. I've helped several software teams learn to develop (and document) software for medical devices.
Even if you're not planning to make the jump from a wellness app to a medical device for a while, there are some things you can start documenting now that will make the transition a lot easier for you when you get there. E.g., starting to track formal requirements (https://innolitics.com/articles/2022-04-27-design-inputs/) and tracing them to verification protocols (e.g., automated or manual tests).
We have a bunch of Notion templates that we use with our clients that I could share with you to help you get started. Feel free to email me at jdgiese AT Innolitics.com
Re: 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
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for writing this all out—I too have a deviated septum and can relate to a lot of what you wrote. Have you considered surgery for your nose?
Yes, I forgot to mention but I have surgery coming up in February so hopefully I want need my Afrin dependency anymore! I wasn't sure about surgery at first, and was just super duper happy I could breath through my nose, after 40 years of not even knowing that it wasn't normal to breath only through my mouth. But after a few months of this precious nose breathing, and my mouth not drying out at night anymore which ca…
Good luck with the surgery! I'm looking at doing it next year myself. Anecdotally, everyone who I ran into locally who'd had his said the same thing: they wish they'd done it sooner—ergo, it sounds like a winner. Again, thanks for sharing your wisdom in your original post. All the best!
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I forgot to mention but I have surgery coming up in February so hopefully I want need my Afrin dependency anymore! I wasn't sure about surgery at first, and was just super duper happy I could breath through my nose, after 40 years of not even knowing that it wasn't normal to breath only through my mouth. But after a few months of this precious nose breathing, and my mouth not drying out at night anymore which ca…
If you have poor nasal breathing you should consider EASE https://drkaseyli.org/ease . People in your situation often have narrow jaws which can result in a narrow nasal aperture and poor airflow
I'd never come across this, but it looks promising. I broke my jaw in the past, so I imagine I'm even more at risk of having jaw related breathing issues. Thanks for sharing!
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#219You might want to explore using haptic feedback via the devices vibrator motor to prompt the user to breathe in and out. One short pulse for breathe in, and a longer pulse to breathe out. This would allow the user to perform the exercises with their eyes closed and the phone on their lap. I know the visual functionality is core to your design, but might be a good idea to provide some optionality for users who just wa…
Also it will allow people with impaired vision use the app.
Re: Show HN: I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
+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 na…
I haven't read the book, but just hearing the idea to tape my mouth shut induces some anxiety. Isn't it dangerous that you don't get enough air?
You can actually cut a little slit in the mouth tape, so that you won't panic. Breathing a straw sized amount of air through the mouth if you need to, will prevent suffocation anxiety, but also limit your mouth breathing enough that your nose does most of the work.
Watch this guys two videos on a DIY CPAP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8JzXEoT9LI