Daily 'Breath Training' can work as well as Meds to reduce high blood pressure | Hacker News Reader

Daily 'Breath Training' can work as well as Meds to reduce high blood pressure

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Video from article

> https://youtu.be/nd5U7mDhFi4

> The Power Breathe works for everyone: whether your young, old, fit, unfit, or even a top class athlete.

> The Power Breathe was developed by leading sport scientists, and is scientifically proven to get results.

> And after rigorous scientific and medical trials

This has to be satire, I'm dead lmaoooo

Also $650

I had one of these a few years back and it was really helpful with developing breathing technique for high-intensity sports. I know a number of people with asthma found them very useful.

$650 was way off the mark for what I paid, definitely under £100, and Amazon UK currently has them at £65.

There has to be a low tech solution, like can I just try to breathe in with my mouth closed? Or breathe in through a plastic straw & pinch it? I really prefer calisthenics, I'd imagine the breathing exercises singers do are probably the best.

It's also hard to believe any of the published findings of gimmicky devices like this [1]. Another paper says it doesn't provide any benefit [2], but then I question this paper, they only did 3 days. It takes me about of month of muscle training to really notice any effect. And now I feel I've already gave the POWERBreathe® too much attention then it deserves. ;)

[1] https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/1/72 [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4306778/

Similar devices have seen clinical application for many years.

Current devices of respiratory physiotherapy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2580042/

I'm seeing power breathe for 33€ on their website.

Spirometer from Walmart cheapest $10

Spirometer from Walgreens most expensive $65

Let's make fun about something that I don't understand because the marketing material is bad... that's peak HN.

Let's make fun about the marketing material because the marketing material is bad... that's completely normal and you're being weird.

Also that price, which makes sense to mock, though it's the fancy version.

No, it's being a jackass for the jist of it in the video they market the 30$ bucks option. It's spreading misinformation for a bad joke and karma... If you can't understand why it's bad just put yourself or your company in the same position maybe it helps your mirror neurons to fire up.

90% of that post is mocking the marketing that you yourself called bad, completely independent from the price quoted in the last line. Do you have any problem with the bulk of the post, because the objection you're raising right now only applies to the last line.

It's classic misdirection I know a lot of people like you don't have problems with using misdirection for personal gain but some of us have.

You didn't answer the question, so I can't even figure out what you think is misdirection. You're just being a jerk to me now. Congrats.

"...those reductions are about what could be expected with conventional aerobic exercise..."

"It could be beneficial for people who are unable to do traditional aerobic exercise ..."

Title seems a little misleading

Yeah, the takeaway for most people is just a reiteration of "aerobic exercise is good for your blood pressure".

However, is also says this:

"it would be a good additive intervention for people who are doing other healthy lifestyle approaches already."

Offshoot topic but I need medical advice from strangers.

I get normal blood pressure readings at home but at the doctor it’s quite high. Is that pretty normal?

White coat syndrome as others have mentioned. I have this problem too (inherited from both sides of my family) and not a single doctor that I've seen pays attention when I tell them. Every year or so I spend a day or two testing myself at home and get normal readings but to them all that matters is the high systolic reading in the office. For some reason they find it inconceivable that an injured person who's in a building full of sick and dying people would exhibit an obvious symptom of stress like transient elevation of blood pressure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

White coat syndrome, as the sibling poster noted. However, if you or your doctor aren't satisfied and worry about the high measurements in their office, you can ask for a 24 hour monitor - you take it home and it measures blood pressure regularly throughout the day (and unfortunately throughout the night too)

Yes. It's called white coat syndrome.

Pranayama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama

"In some Buddhist teachings or metaphors, breathing is said to stop with the fourth jhana, though this is a side-effect of the technique and does not come about as the result of purposeful effort."

Previously discussed here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31034740

Is there a physical difference between using the resistance device, and just breathing through a narrow straw? It seems a lot cheaper to just jury-rig something.

I thought the term was "jerry-rigged", but those are completely different.

- Jerry-rigged: Not really a term, but a mistaken mash-up of jerry-built (cheaply or poorly built) and jury-rigged (built with what's on hand)

- jury-rigged (built with what's on hand)

https://www.dictionary.com/e/jury-rigged-vs-jerry-rigged/

>through a narrow straw

You can just use the palm of your hand over your mouth,

however to determine if you you are making progress, you make like a meter to measure your performance.

A Spirometer is an apparatus for measuring the Volume of air Inspired and Expired by the lungs : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirometer

What Is an Incentive Spirometer? : https://www.webmd.com/lung/lung-incentive-spirometer

Edit add; the palm of

Maybe playing the recorder or inflating balloons is as effective.

Inhalation & Exhalation resistance is required.

Anyone able to tell if the study was funded by the device manufacturer?

Adjacently: I want a day time breath monitor.

To nudge me when I hold my breath. I have chronic pain. I do all the usual pain therapy stuff (breathing, meditating, pacing myself, etc).

However, I unconsciously hold my breath (and tense up) when my pain spikes. Noticing sooner, and nudging me, would be great.

This Power Breathe looks awesome. Thanks for sharing. I'll definitely learn more about it. I've done some respiratory therapy stuff in the past. So I know this kind of thing can be really beneficial.

Interesting, I was just listening to Tim Ferris' latest podcast with Bas Rutten, where he was promoting the O2 trainer, a similar device for exercising your breathing muscles and diaphram.

I'm opting to just plugging whichever nostril is clear and using the constricted nostril instead. Seems cheaper and something I can do anywhere. Also helps me utilize my nose instead of being a mouth breather.

Usually IMST training is done with a device that adds resistance to your breathing.

If you want to try it without a device, just restrict airflow through your nostrils with your thumbs while inhaling. (and keep your mouth closed of course). It should be very difficult to inhale. You exhale freely

How about things like Expand a Lung? Can they improve cardio fitness?

Daily meditation will help in reducing migraine, nerve related issues or stress, pain etc.

I wonder what the blood pressure record is for brass players then.... :)

>brass players

Double Bassoon, Bassoon, Tuba, Sousaphone, Bass Saxophone?

Maybe Glassblower?

You still need Inhalation resistance.

Wim Hof <3

>We found that doing 30 breaths per day

>We found that doing 30 breaths per day

Yes, poorly written, 30x Inhalation & Exhalation resistance breaths per day.

Would be far more appropriate!

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