If you have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Why should I do breathing exercises?

Poor breathing, either induced by asthma, stress or lack of exercise affects us. Lack of oxygen in the blood makes us feeling unfocused while inefficient breathing is also wasteful in terms of energy consumption and thus we feel tired. We go for a gym or walk to get few breaths out but either than that we just feel sort of down thorough the day. By doing breathing exercises regularly you will increase your oxygen levels, decrease work needed for breathing and calm your nervous system so it can better cope with everyday stress.

What kind of breathing is healthy?

Slow and deep breathing using the diaphragm when inhaling and using the deep abdominal muscles when exhaling. Specialists suggest that exhalation should always be longer than inhalation because in that way you can release more wasted air from your body in order to be able to intake more fresh oxygen-rich air with your inhalation.

Will using your products improve my breathing?

Yes. It will train you to exhale longer to remove more air and wasted gasses from your body. Consequently it will slow down your breathing and make it more efficient in terms of energy consumption.

Which breathing technique are your products based on?

Our products are based on Pursed Lip Breathing Technique. This is a breathing technique that aims to make exhalations longer and more efficient. Pursed lip breathing is described in the American Thoracic Society guidelines as involving ‘a nasal inspiration followed by expiratory blowing against partially closed lips, avoiding forceful exhalation’. PLB reduces breathing rate, helps make exhalation more efficient, reduces dyspnoea (shortness of breath), and improves cellular oxygenation. PLB exercises are most often practised to treat asthma, COPD, emphysema, anxiety, phobias, and stress-related disorders.

PLB can be performed without any technology so why should I buy your products?

Breathing games provide biofeedback functionality that make changing breathing behavior fun and easy. Additionally it monitors your breathing rate with our patented Breathing Frequency Detection System (read more here) so it provides real time feedback that makes learning more primal thus changing behaviors.

How does your product differentiate from Frolov breathing device.

In Frolov breathing device straw is used to obstruct air flow on inhalation and exhalation similarly as in PLB pursed lips are used to obstruct air flow during exhalation. Both devices do slow down breathing rate and make breathing deeper. BREATHING+ introduces lower dependency on technology as creating obstruction, and consequently backpressure inside airways, by pursing your lips, allows you to make each of your exhalations more efficient, not just when using the device, hence contributing to a behavioral change.

What about Buteyko breathing technique?

In a long term, PLB will take you to the point where you will be able to breathe according to "Buteyko method". With PLB you get there much faster than with Buteyko teachings though. The essence of buteyko teachings is to slow down breathing and particularly make a long pause at the end of each exhalation therefore delaying the next inhalation. Basically during this long pause (in the flow, dont do it while driving) you can do the exhalation through pursed lips to release air that was unable to be released from nose alone.

Should I breathe through nose or through mouth?

Inhalation should always be done through nose, exhalation however is more efficient through pursed lips, and consequently more air gets released from the lungs.

I breathe with an open mouth, what should I do?

You need to suppress your urge to inhale air. You should focus on exhalation, making sure exhalation is long, slow and thorough (untill "all" air is released from the body).

What about during sport, can I inhale through mouth?

Yes. In swimming and martial arts you sometimes inhale through mouth simply because it is faster and it allows you to get more air in less time. At rest however inhalation through nose is recommended.

Will BREATHING+ help with my asthma?

Yes. Regular practice will train you to better cope with asthma attacks. Additionally it will reduce fatigue and asthma induced breathlessness and it will open up airways so you will breathe easier. BREATHING+ is already being used in clinical environments to manage asthma, COPD, postoperative rehabilitation, stress and anxiety.

Will BREATHING+ help with any other symptoms?

Breathing+ help to reduce many difficulties at children behavior such as attention deficit disorder, speech disorder,  stress and anxiety.

For which age groups are breathing games designed for?

Breathing games are officially suited for age 7+ years. We have great results with 5+ years old users though. Main problems with users aged under 7 years are 1) headset being too large (kids need to hold it in place), 2) their exhalation being too short and thus some games are less enjoyable. Our suggestion to end users is as following: Measure your kids exhalation through pursed lips (like blowing a candle). If it is above 3 seconds, then they can start breathing games, if below 3 seconds it may just make them frustrated. Please understand that officially breathing games are designed for kids at or above 7 years of age.

Why shouldn’t I use other products for positive pressure breathing?

There are many devices that incorporate exhalation against pressure, also referred to as “Positive Expiratory End Pressure” (PEEP), most known being Frolov device, Threshold IMT, PEEP IMT, Power Breathe. BREATHING+ has some obvious advantages and we discussed them in an Open Journal Of Respiratory Diseases (read more here). These are mainly: 1) better hygiene because of non-contact use, 2) ability to perform the same exercise without any device - thus improving breathing behavior without raising dependence on technology, 3) better feedback and tracking of breathing exercise results which improves user's motivation (medical compliance) 4) weekly new games that ease learning and improve user's long term motivation.

What do health professionals think of your products?

Health professionals recommend our products mainly to people with breathing difficulties or stress related disorders. Our products are based on a breathing technique Pursed Lip Breathing that is being recommended by most asthma, copd and pulmonary rehabilitation organisations globally.

What is your competition?

Toys market is greatly saturated, but it does not include a product with such health related benefits. On the other hand, the market for breathing rehabilitation is vastly out-dated in terms of entertainment and monitoring/tracking features of breathing exercises guidance and supervision. We are researching our competitors and we keep all this research public, please see our white paper, table 1 here.

Are there any contraindications for your products?

Our products are very non-invasive therefore adverse events are rare or mild. However we try to stay on the cautious side so we apply warnings to groups with the following conditions:

Depression

Breathing with longer exhalations triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest-and-digest response. If you suffer from depression, this can further aggravate it as you tend to predominantly activate your parasympathetic; Putting the body in a state of relaxation but increasing a lack of motivation.

Severe Personality Disorders

Personality disorders, psychopathic disorders, severe forms of depression, mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder and delirium. In these disorders the patient is more likely to interpret a breathing exercise in the context of his/her personality disorder in which the therapist no longer has sufficient control over the outcome. In an acute state PLB is always suggested as a first step in panic attacks, anxiety, and aggression.

Diabetes

If you suffer from diabetes and use insulin or other blood glucose-lowering medication, the pursed lip breathing exercise can increase your sensitivity to medication. This can make your blood glucose level lower than usual. You may suffer then from hypoglycemic shock, which is much more dangerous than high blood sugar and therefore you should have a small snack immediately after the breathing session. Also you should introduce breathing exercises gradually to adopt to low sympathetic activity gradually.

EMS only: Pregnancy

Use of electrical stimulation should be avoided over certain areas during pregnancy, including the abdomen primarily the risk of unwanted uterine contractions. The effects of electrical current on a developing fetus are uncertain.

EMS only: Heart Conditions

If you have any heart conditions or have an implanted pacemaker you are especially susceptible to abnormal heart rhythms from the EMS.

Your Question?

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