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Comment by aaronscott | Hacker News Reader

Thank you for posting this! I rely on an IL-6 inhibitor currently, and used to rely on a TNF-a inhibitor which became less effective over time. Seeing these influenced through breathing, meditation, and cold exposure is really interesting.

It would be nice to know if the changes primarily stemmed from one of the interventions they explored. Could I achieve the same results with one of the three methods for example?

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> Could I achieve the same results with one of the three methods for example?

I don't see why the researchers would lump all three treatments together into the intervention group.

There is this, seems to suggest cold exposure: https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.14814/phy2...

Thank you for finding that. It seems like intermittent cold exposure may be the primary key then. I wonder if breathing exercises help modulate the bodies response to the cold. More oxygen available may mean better brown fat thermogenesis for example.

More oxygen is not the underlying science here. Oxygen saturation is almost always at, or close to, 100%. See the Bohr Effect [0][1].

TL;DR Increased CO2 aids in Oxygen delivery efficiency.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_effect [1] https://respiratorycram.com/bohr-effect/

Thanks for posting this. From the wiki page:

> an increase in CO2 results in a decrease in blood pH,[2] resulting in hemoglobin proteins releasing their load of oxygen. Conversely, a decrease in carbon dioxide provokes an increase in pH, which results in hemoglobin picking up more oxygen.

So lowering carbon dioxide concentration (through an activity like hyperventilation) will cause hemoglobin to pick up more oxygen molecules. And increasing carbon dioxide levels will release those molecules. Fascinating.

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