My boyfriend and I were debating on a question about breathing... Please help:-)?

Question

Many people have probably never heard of it before, BUT, my boyfriend is saying that naturally, people breath through alternating nostrils. Breathe in one nostril and out the other. I disagreed with him saying that sounded dumb. Who's right? REFERENCES would be greatly appreciated:-) So I can prove to him I'm right...(or wrong).

Thanks:-)

Answer 1

Try the book "Gray's Anatomy", or any other health book. Your boyfriend is wrong. You breathe through both nostrils, both in and out.

Answer 2

well, biologically, that doesn't make much sense now does it. i certainly don't only breathe through one nostril. in fact, after just testing, i definitely breathe in and out through the same nostril. so i would say that people use both of them. otherwise, why would we have two?

Answer 3

The nostrals are only seperate until the back of the nose in the nasopharynx. The air is then inhaled from the cavity from the bellowing of the lungs. The nostrils have no muscles/sphincters to close it off. Therefore if there is a patent airway (no boogers) then there is know way to close off.

Answer 4

Your boyfriend is a retard. To prove that he's wrong: plug one nostril and breathe in, your breathing will feel restricted and you will need to inhale longer to get the same amount of oxygen.

Answer 5

You are correct. However, there is a yoga technique of alternate nostril breathing see http://yoga.about.com/od/breathing/a/nadisodhana.htm.

Answer 6

I agree with your first respondent and I can not improve on her answer just adding my two cents to the fray... BTW if your boyfriend is that wrong about breathing, he is probably totally wrong about breeding too... LOL. Look for a better mate before it is too late!