Cyclic Nostril Breathing?

[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.