Do all people breathe equally? Response of scientists

Scientists have found that breathing style can be unique to everyone

Photo: Brizmaker/Depositphotos

The fingerprint and the iris are unique to each person. Now scientists have found another feature – an individual style of nasal breathing, which can also be a way of identification.

This is stated in a study that Posted In Current Biology, informs The New York Times.

Most people rarely think about breathing, but for some scientists, this permanent process can provide important information about the brain. Sensory neurons and other cells are activated with each breath to help process environmental information.

Researchers Nam Sobel and Timne Forty from the Weitsman Institute of Science in Israel have decided to check whether people can be identified by long records of their breathing. « We have hypothesized that if the brain is unique then the same will be the breathing models »– Dr. Sobel explained.

To find evidence of breathing uniqueness, the Timne Forty scientist developed a sensor that fixes the flow of air from each human nostril. The device was fixed to the upper body of volunteers for 24 hours.

Thanks to the software that analyzed information from the sensors, the authors of the work were able to effectively distinguish people by breathing in 90% of the experiment.

One person can pause before every breath, when others have a shorter or such a « break » at all. In many people, one nostril has a greater flow than the other, during a certain part of the day.

The researchers found that the more data they received, the better the software identified the observation participant. The unique type of cycles of breaths and exhalations was called « breathing ».

Two years after the first stage of the study, they once again checked the breathing of part of the volunteers and found that their special features of cycles of breaths and exhalations did not change. The software could still identify people by their breathing.

“We were surprised how effective it was”– Timna forty shared.

In addition, the researchers found the relationship between the nature of breathing and the results of participants’ surveys on anxiety, depression and autistic spectrum disorders. For example, people with higher indicators of depressive symptoms more often demonstrated a tendency for very rapid exhalation.

Scientists suggest that monitoring this unconscious process can be useful for expanding knowledge of mental states and disorders.

Neurobiologist Jack Feldman, who did not participate in the work, said that the study « provides very convincing information that we have characteristic breathing models. » According to him, the uniqueness of this process makes sense, since breathing is associated with many processes in the body, each of which can be special for everyone.

The authors want to continue research in this field to find out if you can describe a healthy type of breathing that can be used as a way of monitoring diseases.

Further work can also answer the questions whether cycles of breaths and exhalations can influence the condition of the human body. However, scientists recognize that this requires enough breathing information.

Earlier we toldthat occurs with the brain of a person who temporarily loses consciousness.