Cyclic Nostril Breathing?

[Gravdigr]

Is this bullshit, or what?

StumbledUpon at Today I Found Out

Today I found out around 85% of humans only breathe out of one nostril at a time. Even more interesting is that the pattern of switching from breathing out of one nostril to the other happens in a cyclical fashion, with about four hours or so between each switch typically; although, this can vary from person to person and vary based on your bodily position or nasal congestion.

This “nasal cycle” was first noticed by a German nose specialist, Richard Kayser in 1895. How your nose accomplishes this switch is via erectile tissue in your nose, which is very similar to the erectile tissue in a penis or clitoris. Erectile tissue will swell up in one nostril, mostly blocking it, and at the same time erectile tissue in the other nostril will shrink, opening it up for breathing.

Even more interesting is that depending on which nostril you are predominately breathing out of at any given moment, it seems to greatly affect your body and brain.

For instance, a study in 1988 showed that breathing through your right nostril significantly increases blood glucose levels, while breathing through your left nostril has the opposite effect. It is speculated from this that abnormal nasal cycles, such as breathing through your right nostril for many years without a switch, may be one cause of diabetes.

Another study in 1993 showed that when you are breathing through your right nostril you will use significantly more oxygen than when breathing through your left.

Most interestingly of all, yet another study published in 1994, showed that when you are breathing through your left nostril, the right hemisphere of your brain will be more active or dominant and vice-verse when you are breathing through your right nostril. This can be a handy thing to know as the right hemisphere of your brain is your “creative/imaginative” side, while the left hemisphere of your brain is your “logical” side. So forcing breathing through one nostril or the other can actually affect the way you think at a given moment.

Even though this switching happens naturally in a cyclical fashion, you can affect it in more ways than just plugging one nostril or the other to force breathing through the one you want. If you lay down on one side or the other, after around 12-15 minutes, the erectile tissue in the nostril on that side will begin to swell up and the other side will decrease its swelling so that if you are laying on your left side, then your right nostril will open up and your left nostril will close up.

It is thought that this nasal cycle could be the reason that, when you sleep on your side, you will often switch sides throughout the night at very regular intervals, even if you weren’t in the slightest bit uncomfortable. It could just be that your body needs to switch which nostril it is breathing out of, so you feel the urge to roll over to your other side while you sleep.

Bonus Factoids:

* Research has shown that the nasal cycle gets weaker as you get older.
* The nasal cycle is thought to be regulated by the autonomic nervous system via the sympathetic nervous system.

And, does this mean my nose is getting an erection?

[sad_winslow]

This is, um, dubious-sounding at best without any references.

It does remind me of certain meditative/yogic breathing practices, though, in which one practices inhaling through one nostril and out the other, switching every so often. Pranayama - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama

Blaming breathing out of the wrong nostril for diabetes, though, sounds like total bollox to me.

[Clodfobble]

I can definitely confirm that one or the other of my nostrils is always stopped-up. Currently, for example, my left is the clear one, and if I block it with my finger I am in danger of passing out very shortly. But I always assumed this was just allergic congestion, and that my nostrils switched blockage when I laid on one side or the other simply because the gravity shifted the mucous downward into the lower nostril.

[Happy Monkey]

I get that sometimes, and it does seem to switch sides periodically, but it's not all the time by any means. I, too associate it with a cold or allergies.

[glatt]

I was intrigued by this because I've had similar experiences, so I tried Googling it. All I could find was a ton of stuff about yoga and new age mumbo jumbo.

[xoxoxoBruce]

This only pertains to people blessed with healthy sinuses.

[Gravdigr]

Heh, I'm out then...

[Griff]

Yep, I'm out.

[ZenGum]

Yon Gravedigr cried out

Is this bullshit, or what?

This sounds like a job for .... Academic-man!!!!

[stuggles into superhero-suit: brown trousers with underpants outside, causal shirt, tweed jacket with leather elbow patches].

The Nasal cycle was indeed first described by Kayser (1895).

Flanagan and Eccles (1997) did a very good review study. Here are some edited highlights from their abstract:

It is now over 100 years since Kayser first reported in the scientific literature that the human nasal passages exhibit spontaneous changes in unilateral nasal airway resistance, yet our understanding of this unusual phenomenon is still very confused.

Spontaneous, reciprocal changes in unilateral nasal resistance are often referred to as a “nasal cycle” and although this term is now commonly used .... there is little evidence for any true periodicity.

[paraphrasing loosely:] Most people haven't measured it properly, and so people just accept views from 1927 and 1953 that 80% of people have a regular nasal cycle.
So we made a way to measure it and did the experiment. We came up with a mathematical definition of a nasal cycle. [end paraphrase]


Only 21% (11 of the 52 volunteers) exhibited a nasal cycle in these terms. This finding contradicts the generally accepted, but undefined, view that around 80% of the population exhibit a regular nasal cycle.

I think they are denying the claims of a regular (i.e periodic) cycle, not denying that we change nostril from time to time.


The 1988 study referred to is almost certainly Backon and Kullok. I am unable to access this article from home, but it appears that Backon has been studying this stuff for years.

The 1993 Study is almost certainly by Telles, Nagarathna and Nagendra.
This was originally published by Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Foundation, the sponsor, but was republished in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (1994).

I read this one, they have one a pretty good study with pre-test and post-test and control group and study group. However, the study was not double-blind, nor even researcher-blind, so placebo effect and confirmation bias cannot be ruled out.

The findings do support the claim as interpreted in this article.


The 1994 article published is harder to identify. I found two candidates. The first is Stank and Kuma (1994).

However, their abstract says:

The effects of 10 min forced alternate nostril breathing (FANB) on EEG topography were studied in 18 trained subjects. One type of FANB consisted in left nostril inspiration and right nostril expiration and the other type in right nostril inspiration and left nostril expiration. Mean power in the beta bands and partially in the alpha band increased during FANB irrespective of the type of nostril breathing. In addition, hemisphere asymmetry in the beta 1 band decreased in the second half of FANB suggesting that FANB has a balancing effect on the functional activity of the left and right hemisphere.

Which is the opposite of what is reported in the original article.

The second candidate is:
Schiff and Rump (1995) and their abstract says:

Relative nostril efficiency is associated with greater activation of the hemisphere contralateral to the more efficient (dominant) nostril and with improved performance on cognitive tasks which reflect the functions of that hemisphere (see Shannahoff-Khalsa, 1993, for review). In this experiment we demonstrate a similar relationship between nasal efficiency and the emotional functions of the cerebral hemispheres. Following left nostril forced breathing through the dominant nostril, subjects report a more negative emotional state, score higher on the Spielberger State Anxiety Inventory, and tell stories about an ambiguous picture that are more negative in emotional tone. These results are similar to those found with unilateral muscle contractions and therefore support the hypothesis that unilateral contractions are effective because of contralateral hemispheric activation.

which DOES support the article.

So, Gravedigr, to my mild surprise, I think that is in fact pretty accurate, and I thank you for drawing it to my attention.

Let me just add, While Google Is Your Friend, Google Scholar Is My God. Seriously, all this took less than an hour. Students today have it EASY!


References

Backon, J and Kullok, S 1988 'Changes in blood glucose levels induced by differential forced unilateral nostril breathing, a technique which affects both brain hemisphericity and autonomic activity' Medical Science Research, Vol. 16, pp.1197-1199.

Flanagan, P and Eccles, R 1997, 'Spontaneous Changes of Unilateral Nasal Airflow in Man. A Re-examination of the "Nasal Cycle" ' Acta Oto-Laryngologica, Vol. 117, Is. 4 , pp 590 - 595.

Kayser, R 1895 'Die exacte Messung der Luftdurchgangigkeit der Nase'. Archiv Fur Laryngol Rhinol 1895, Vol. 3, 101-120.

Schiff, BB and Rump, SA 1995 'Asymmetrical Hemispheric Activation and Emotion - The Effects of Unilateral Forced Nostril Breathing' Brain and Cognition, Vol. 29, Is. 3, pp 217-231.

Stank, A and Kuma, M 1994 'EEG changes during forced alternate nostril breathing' International Journal of Psychophysiology
Vol. 18, Is. 1, pp. 75-79.

Telles, S, Nagarathna, R, and Nagendra, HR 1993 'Breathing through a particular nostril can alter metabolism and autonomic activities' Indian J Physiol Pharmacol Vol. 38 Is. 2 pp133-7.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Let me just add, While Google Is Your Friend, Google Scholar Is My God. Seriously, all this took less than an hour. Students today have it EASY!

[crasy]Too easy, I'd say. Why, when I was an undergrad we had to employ an Onondaga Seach Injun to climb through the stacks. Some say its better now with automation and casino jobs but at what cost?[/old man]

[xoxoxoBruce]

Don't let him fool you Griff, he made his students do it.

[HungLikeJesus]

The effects of 10 min forced alternate nostril breathing (FANB) on EEG topography were studied in 18 trained subjects.

I wonder what they mean by "trained subjects."

[ZenGum]

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Let me just add, While Google Is Your Friend, Google Scholar Is My God.

Zen, serious question...your professional opinion is required. Why Google Scholar over say Academic One File or Academic Search Premiere?

[Gravdigr]

Wow. I never would have dreamed there was this much about nostrils and breathing through them to know.

Or not know, for that matter.