Science
Ancient Wisdom. New Technology
The cardiovascular and neurological benefits of slow breathing with prolonged exhalation have been known for centuries
RESPeRATE patented technology delivers these known benefits via a smart portable device with unprecedented efficacy to significantly lower blood pressure and induce sleep.
RESPeRATE was clinically demonstrated to lower neural sympathetic activity [3,4,20], treat hypertension [2,5-21], heart-failure [22-24], COPD [25], PSTD [26], reduce, chronic stress [27] and anxiety [28] and more.
RESPeRATE is now recommended by the American Heart Association Scientific statement on non-pharmacological treatments for hypertension. [1]
The award-winning 2breathe Sleep Inducer was developed after finding that 90% of RESPeRATE users surveyed reported they also slept better
The overall evidence from clinical trials and meta-analyses suggests that device-guided slow breathing [RESPeRATE] can significantly lower blood pressure. There are no known contraindications to the use of the device, and no adverse effects have been noted.”
American Heart Association Scientific Statement 2013. [1]
Proven Efficacy in Hypertension
RESPeRATE safety and efficacy was demonstrated in 17 separate clinical studies published in peer reviewed medical journals. It has been used by over 250,00 patients and doctors in the past 15 years with great success and no reports of adverse reactions.
The clinical studies demonstrated that using RESPeRATE as directed resulted in:
• Significant and sustained reduction in blood pressure (BP) within 8 weeks demonstrated when measured at the office [2-18], at home [3-7, 9, 12-13, 17] and with 24-hour ABPM [4 ,10, 19].
• 10/5 mmHg (weighted average) sustained office BP reduction in adults both with controlled and uncontrolled BP (weighted average from the 16 studies (chart 1) [2-18]. Patients population ranged from controlled patients to refractory hypertensives [5], included comorbidities as diabetes [9, 11, 17, 19,] and obstructive sleep apnea [14], in the US, Europe, Middle East and Far East.
• Data available from 10 studies [2-8,10-11] show greater BP reductions for:
• Older patients: 16/7 mmHg for >age 65
• Higher initial BP: 17/7 for systolic BP>160 mmHg
• More time spent in slow breathing (<10 breaths/min) [chart 3].
• BP reductions were independent of gender and medications
How Does RESPeRATE Work
RESPeRATE’s patented “Device Guided Breathing” taps the body’s natural tendency to follow musical rhythms. RESPeRATE analyses the breathing pattern and composes, in real time, a personalized melody with two distinct inhale and exhale guiding tones. By gradually prolonging the exhalation tone RESPeRATE leads the patient to the therapeutic zone of 5-6 breaths per minutes with prolonged exhalation guiding tones.
After each session of device guided breathing, respiration returns to normal, but the beneficial impact on blood pressure accumulates and maintained with routine use.
Why RESPeRATE Works
RESPeRATE BP lowering effect is rationalized by an acute reduction of the sympathetic neural activity [18, 20, 21] and a sustained decrease in peripheral resistance and arterial stiffness [15] (see scheme above [22]).
Why 2breathe Induces Sleep
The fact that 90% RESPeRATE of users reported they also slept better is not surprising.
Poor sleep typically reflects heightened pre-sleep tension: A ‘vicious cycle’ that includes daily stress, intrusive thoughts resulting in elevated sympathetic neural activity.
To quiet our racing thoughts, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends deep breathing exercises [29, 30]. The problem is that sleep-inducing breathing exercises are highly specific, difficult to master, and require concentration to do correctly.
2breathe enables anyone to perform highly effective breathing exercises without prior training or conscious effort using patented real-time coaching technology. It captivates the racing mind, keeping it focused on breathing via its guiding tones. The whole breathing synchronization and prolonging the exhalation process happens subliminally in a way you can’t do on your own. The tones guide the breathing via the emotional part of the brains and not the “decision-making” cognitive part of the brain, as other methods such as counting or “thinking about it” tend to do.
Furthermore, 2breathe’s core patented technology composes the guiding tones in real-time, in a way that continuously adapts to the user’s ability to be guided. Such adaptive guidance creates an optimal and personalized breathing exercise shown to play a prominent role in the beneficial effect beyond pre-recorded relaxing tones used by most breathing apps [5,23].
RESPeRATE clinical studies supported these reports by demonstrating positive effects on factors that play prominent role in sleeplessness, including lowering neural sympathetic activity [3,4,20]. More specifically, two separate randomized controlled studies reported that RESPeRATE used during the day improved sleep in different populations: Reduction in insomnia severity index in menopausal women [31], and in the severity of sleep disordered breathing in heart failure patients [24].
References:
[11] Bae JH, Kim JH, Choe KH, Hong SP, Kim KS, Kim CH, Ko JK, Kim CH, Kim KS. Blood pressure change following 8-week, 15-minute daily treatment with paced breathing guided by a device: a Korean multi-center study. J Clin Hypertens 2006;8:79 [Korean with abstract in English in Korean Hyperten J 2006;1:19-23]
[13] Aydin L et al, J Hyperten 2008; 26 (suppl 2): S371-S372.
