Right/Left Nostril

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Today I found out around 85% of humans only breathe out of one nostril at a time. Even more interesting is that the pattern of switching from breathing out of one nostril to the other happens in a cyclical fashion, with about four hours or so between each switch typically; although, this can vary from person to person and vary based on your bodily position or nasal congestion.

This “nasal cycle” was first noticed by a German nose specialist, Richard Kayser in 1895. How your nose accomplishes this switch is via erectile tissue in your nose, which is very similar to the erectile tissue in a penis or clitoris. Erectile tissue will swell up in one nostril, mostly blocking it, and at the same time erectile tissue in the other nostril will shrink, opening it up for breathing.

Even more interesting is that depending on which nostril you are predominately breathing out of at any given moment, it seems to greatly affect your body and brain.

For instance, a study in 1988 showed that breathing through your right nostril significantly increases blood glucose levels, while breathing through your left nostril has the opposite effect. It is speculated from this that abnormal nasal cycles, such as breathing through your right nostril for many years without a switch, may be one cause of diabetes.

Another study in 1993 showed that when you are breathing through your right nostril you will use significantly more oxygen than when breathing through your left.

Most interestingly of all, yet another study published in 1994, showed that when you are breathing through your left nostril, the right hemisphere of your brain will be more active or dominant and vice-verse when you are breathing through your right nostril. This can be a handy thing to know as the right hemisphere of your brain is your “creative/imaginative” side, while the left hemisphere of your brain is your “logical” side. So forcing breathing through one nostril or the other can actually affect the way you think at a given moment.

Even though this switching happens naturally in a cyclical fashion, you can affect it in more ways than just plugging one nostril or the other to force breathing through the one you want. If you lay down on one side or the other, after around 12-15 minutes, the erectile tissue in the nostril on that side will begin to swell up and the other side will decrease its swelling so that if you are lying on your left side, then your right nostril will open up and your left nostril will close up.

It is thought that this nasal cycle could be the reason that, when you sleep on your side, you will often switch sides throughout the night at very regular intervals, even if you weren’t in the slightest bit uncomfortable. It could just be that your body needs to switch which nostril it is breathing out of, so you feel the urge to roll over to your other side while you sleep.

Source:

Today I Found Out

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Glad to...

clear up...

that issue. (:

But yeah brodongo/Ganny/Cirt/pheo were inside joking about it and I wanted to dispel the mystery.

[Ganny 285]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Linox 28]

I went from right to left nostril while reading this.

Personally confirmed.

[Ganny 285]

Also I'm about to take part in a small programming competition so I'm going to try and force a righty

[Michael 290]

While reading this I was breathing through my right nostril.

[PrimaGaga 1025]

I normally breath through my other orifices. Nostril breathing is so mainstream.

[Jareddude 62]

It seems as if I always breathe out of my left nostril.

[MasterIckolas 2]

Huh... Well awesome to know.. Now if I could only freaking get my left one to unclog for a few hours I could freaking breath though both. I hate autumn allergies.

[Aethix 129]

I always thought that I was weird for only breathing out of one. I would actively try to clear the other nostril whenever I'd notice my reliance on only one nostril. A few times, I even had my mom and my girlfriend slowly breathe out of their nose while I held a finger up to each nostril.

This was actually a concern of mine. Thank you.

I've had similar experiences, and they've really bugged me.

Also worth noting that the right nostril tends to only pick up more pleasant scents while the left nostril is more accurate. Which is useful to know when something stinks but you still have to breathe.

[Chimetals 344]

i was mostly breathing through the left one when i read this. thing is, i was sleeping on my right side for a while before barely stumbling out of bed and reading this.

ive got issues :<

[fire_flamesX 39]

it snot that serious, chime tails.

[Treemotan 201]

So apparently, I breathe out of both. Or when I'm stuffed up, neither. Or when I'm stung by a bee, suffocating.