What’s This Research About?

Traditional yoga texts describe “cross-nostril breathing” as inhaling and exhaling through different nostrils, a practice distinct from uni-nostril breathing, which showed no clear differences in oxygen consumption in past research. This study is the first to examine oxygen consumption during cross-nostril breathing.

The study involved 47 healthy male participants (average age 26.3 years) in five sessions on separate days: right nostril inspiration yoga breathing (RNIYB), left nostril inspiration yoga breathing (LNIYB), alternate nostril yoga breathing (ANYB), breath awareness (BAW), and quiet rest (QR). Each session lasted 33 minutes with measurements before, during, and after, including blood pressure to indicate sympathetic activity.

Traditional yoga texts describe the left nostril (ida nadi) as the calming channel, the right nostril (surya nadi) as the energizing channel, and alternate nostril breathing as balancing these effects. Researchers hypothesized that RNIYB would increase oxygen consumption (VO2), LNIYB would decrease it, and ANYB would have a neutral effect. However, results showed increased oxygen consumption regardless of the nostril used.

Young man doing alternate nostril breathing

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