nostril post, dedicated to puss

i've been meaning to bring up this topic for so long that i forget how it all came about in the first place. i only remember talking to puss about it at some point and promising him that i'd blog about it. and i already had some sort of idea about breathing in through only one nostril at a time. probably a flashback from some lecture. of course, after that blog on antibodies a while back, i know better than to try to dig through my notes to find what i'm looking for :P the net was actually quite friendly to me this time around. and so, without further ado, i present to u some interesting facts about the nasal cycle:

- yes, there is such thing as a nasal cycle

- while one nasal cavity is functionally active*, the opposite side is 'resting'

- in other words, we alternate between the two nostrils when we breathe

- more accurately, we have asymmetrical airflow through our nasal passages

- the cycle takes 2 hours on average, but it varies per person and with age

- we don't notice the switch-over because the total nasal resistance remains fairly constant (due to the fact that the changes between the nasal passages tend to be reciprocal)

- what that means is the increase and decrease in resistance balances out between the two nostrils; we can't tell the difference because we're still inhaling the same amount of air

*mucosal swelling leading to decreased blood flow and increased nasal resistance

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the following tidbits are interesting, but i'm not sure how scientifically proven they are:

- the nasal cycle may correspond with brain function, with the electrical activity of the brain found to be greater on the side opposite the less congested nostril

- for example, if ur left nostril were less obstructed, the right side of ur brain would be more predominant and u would perform better with creative tasks; if ur right nostril were less obstructed, then the left side of ur brain would be predominant and u would have increased logical and verbal activity

- those practicing yoga believe that a lot of disease is due to the nasal cycle being disturbed

- for example, they claim that prolonged breathing through the left nostril only (over a period of years) will produce asthma; however, by simply teaching the patient to breathe through the right nostril, the asthma can actually be cured

- yogis also believe that diabetes is caused to a large extent by breathing mainly through the right nostril