Humans have nasal respiratory fingerprints -- Cell.com - Current Biology

[erronis]

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)00583-4

Highlights

Humans have individually unique nasal respiratory patterns

Human nasal respiratory fingerprints reflect the brain drivers of respiration

Human nasal respiratory fingerprints predict physiological markers such as BMI

Human nasal respiratory fingerprints predict mood and cognition

Summary

Long-term respiratory patterns are generated by remarkably complex brain networks. Because brains are unique, we hypothesized that their dependent respiratory patterns may be similarly unique. To test this hypothesis, we developed a wearable device that precisely measures and logs nasal airflow in each nostril separately for up to 24-h periods. We found that we could identify members of a 97-participant cohort at a remarkable 96.8% accuracy from nasal airflow patterns alone. In other words, humans have individual nasal airflow fingerprints. Moreover, in test-retest experiments, we found that these individual fingerprints remain stable over extended periods of time, such that individual identification by nasal airflow fingerprints was on par with or better than voice recognition. Finally, we find that the high sensitivity of these fingerprints provides significant indications on both physiological states, such as levels of arousal and body-mass index, and cognitive traits, such as levels of anxiety, levels of depression, and behavioral tendencies. We conclude that long-term patterns of nasal airflow reflect the brain drivers of respiration, are individually unique, and have significant implications for health, emotion, and cognition.

Referred by "What Your Breathing Says About Your Mental Health" - https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/what-your-breathing-says-about-your-mental-health-2025a1000flb

You don’t need to think about it until you think about it: breathing. The most fundamental physical function. The most basic act that our bodies undertake to keep our brains alive, exchanging cardon dioxide for oxygen, nourishing every cell inside us.

The reason you don’t need to think about breathing is because of an area of the brainstem called the pre-Bötzinger complex. It’s a group of cells that acts as a pacemaker clicking off about 12 times a minute, triggering your body, without conscious thought at all, to breathe.

Of course, you know it’s more complicated than that. You can hold your breath, after all — you are in control of the process. And it’s more complicated than that. Higher levels of your brain feed into the pre-Bötzinger complex to increase your breathing rate when your body is moving, or when energy expenditure goes up.

And it’s even more complicated than that. You may never have noticed, but when you are breathing through your nose, you’re mostly breathing through one nostril at a time, oscillating back and forth, allowing one nasal passage to regain some moisture while the other does the work.

For something you don’t think about at all, breathing is taking up a lot of brain space.

Could these complex respiratory patterns reveal something, then, about the state of our brains? Are all the yogis and gurus and influencers right about the importance of how we breathe? Is the breath the window to the soul?

If you want to really interrogate the way we breathe, you need to do some pretty precise measurements — which is why I was so intrigued by this paper, appearing this week in Current Biology.

. . .

[Martin68]

1. Breathing doesn't "take up a lot of brain space." It is automatic and self-regulating, requiring no conscious control

all. I've been doing Vipassana meditation for 35 years, which slows down breathing to an almost imperceptible level. It also slows down and temporarily turns off the incessant torrent of thoughts that most of us take for granted. I emerge from the meditative state feeling rejuvenated and calm.

[erronis]

2. Interesting - thanks for something to ponder!

https://www.dhamma.org/en/about/vipassana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassana_movement

[Martin68]

3. As I said, I'be been practicing Vipassana meditation for decades. I'm curious to know why you felt you need to share

two links about the practice with me. BTW, I first studied the practice in Japan (where I lived for 21 years) as a Buddhist meditation practice, so the "Vipassana Movement" is of little interest to me.

[erronis]

4. Uh, this is a reply to your post but it isn't intended to only be read by you.

I like to put references so others, including me, can research.

Sorry you had a sad.

[Martin68]

5. Not sad, just curious (as I wrote in my post). Sorry my question gave you a sad.