Comment by trth on Bragging thread August 2015 · 2015-08-10T08:29:48.694Z · LW · GW

Yes, I've also been looking for that without success. Some apps claim to measure HRV using a phone camera, but it seems to be mostly a scam. It looks like you have to go with either a chest strap, an ear pin, or a thumb sensor

Comment by trth on Bragging thread August 2015 · 2015-08-10T06:56:54.011Z · LW · GW

How?

I often notice that I'm having a slow, regular, smooth breathing, as opposed to a chaotic one (I also used to do micro apneas while working, and I don't notice it anymore). But maybe the bigger effect is that having this in the background helps me be more aware of my body and feelings while I work. I much more often zoom-out of what I'm working on to check my breathing, and also pay more attention to the rest of the body (very often I my case, I notice tension in my shoulders)

If I remember right having a normal heartbeat that's unregular is more healthy then having one with little heart rate variability. What's the case for developing regular breathing?

Breathing with regularity increases your HRV, by making your heart rate follow a sine of high amplitude, instead of being random, something like this. It's quite visible in this video but it's also pretty easy to measure yourself

Also do you have a reason for a duration of inhale and exhale that are the default of the app?

Not really, but I've seen 5 or 6 seconds being recommended by several "coherence professionals" (as with this horrible clock)

Comment by trth on Bragging thread August 2015 · 2015-08-09T20:51:45.629Z · LW · GW

I made a small webapp to improve my (and maybe your) breathing while working: http://inflow.rethaller.net/

I still need to find a name, but most of it is done. I don't expect the LW crowd to be very receptive to the "coherence" thing and I don't think the references are very strong research-wise, but I do think the idea of "regular and smooth breathing while focusing on the chest" works in practice, as I (and many others) have experienced it to work.

I've been using this thing almost daily for about two months, and I can tell that my breathing has improved a lot even when I'm not using it. Also, it has helped me at times going through work I really, really didn't like.

Comments appreciated!