from Hacker News

Ultra-Time-Efficient Exercise Lowers Blood Pressure, Boosts Brain Function

by scottie_m on 4/10/19, 5:39 PM with 43 comments

by modeless on 4/10/19, 8:43 PM
Wait, they achieved a 10% reduction in blood pressure in 6 weeks with only a 5 minute daily breathing exercise? That is off the charts great, if true. How have I not heard of this before?
The original study with these claims is here: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-pdf/39/6/1179/2667404...
by keenmaster on 4/10/19, 9:02 PM
I was going to buy the Powerbreathe on impulse, but there is a lack of authoritative news on IMST devices. People on running and cyclist forums also don’t seem to be fans of IMST. Perhaps that’s because it provides lower marginal benefit for them. Can anyone with a medical background provide their opinion on the linked study?
by kk58 on 4/10/19, 6:46 PM
Same as bhastrika pranayama exercise in yoga. Except you do it without blowing into a device.
by all_usernames on 4/10/19, 6:58 PM
Just immersing your face in cold water apparently has a similar effect on blood pressure -- with no additional expense.
https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplemen...
by swatkat on 4/10/19, 8:19 PM
Looks similar to Kapalabhati and Bhastrika pranayama breathing exercises.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapalabhati
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhastrika
by polskibus on 4/10/19, 7:11 PM
It's great combined with cold showers. Check out Wim Hof method if you need examples (although breathing and cold training are as old as the hills.)
by mfkp on 4/10/19, 6:16 PM
Site is down for me, mirror: https://outline.com/mYww6T
by lotsofpulp on 4/10/19, 7:26 PM
How does the device work and what does it do?
https://www.powerbreathe.com/powerbreathe-k5
On the Powerbreathe website it says
>The POWERbreathe K-Series uses Electronic Variable Threshold Resistance Training to overcome this. This type of training offers a tapered loading resistance to match the contraction curve of your own breathing muscles throughout your entire breath.
Is it restricting the flow of air so you have to breathe harder?
by LyndsySimon on 4/10/19, 8:38 PM
Two things come to mind:
The first is that I wonder if this has the opposite effect on people who use CPAPs? About a third of their life their diaphragm isn't needing to exert nearly as much force for them to inhale.
The second is that I wonder if this has any effect on people who vape, especially with small sub-ohm units. Many of them have very limited airflow, which seems like it would emulate the effect of this device to some degree.
by open-source-ux on 4/10/19, 6:49 PM
The device shown in the video is the Powerbreathe K3 breathing trainer. On Amazon US, the Powerbreathe K4 is selling for $499. However, there are lots of more affordable inspiratory muscle training devices from other manufacturers.
Has anyone used these devices and what improvements in health, if any, did you notice?
by metaphyze on 4/10/19, 8:29 PM
I wonder if you could get the same benefits by just blowing up a balloon.
by xkfm on 4/11/19, 1:06 AM
Interestingly enough I bought this what I thought was a scam/sham/illegitimately represented product from Bas Rutten (the O2 Trainer) awhile ago on a lark. It seems like it actually has some merit (at least the idea, most likely not the product).
by 0_gravitas on 4/10/19, 7:45 PM
Interesting, I've had asthma all of my life, with varying levels of control, I wonder what the knock on effects of that have been, and I wonder if this would be worth giving a shot
by raidicy on 4/10/19, 6:46 PM
Are there any consumer grade devices that are safe/recommended?
by sudhirj on 4/10/19, 6:40 PM
What's a good IMST routine? I take it one could do it well enough by just slightly holding your nostrils together and breathing hard?
by aimatt on 4/10/19, 8:11 PM
Reminds me of fighters training for MMA wearing gas masks to increase their VO2 Max.
by ropable on 4/10/19, 11:55 PM
As a childhood asthmatic, apparently I got on this training regime early.