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breathesimple uses the camera to monitor small changes in your heart rate while you are doing your breathing exercises.  The pulse trace contains a lot of information concerning your breathing behaviour.

There are several reasons this may occur. First you may not have given permission for the app to have access to the camera.  If so use the “settings” function within the app to allow this. Second, you may not have your finger placed correctly on the camera when prompted. Make sure you place it gently on the camera and not on the light as shown in the training section of the app. You may have insufficient blood flow in your finger tip.  This is rare but can happen if you have callouses on your finger or your hands are cold.  Trying rubbing your finger to stimulate the blood flow before starting your training or try another finger. If the pulse trace becomes small try moving your finger slightly to get a larger trace.  This may take a little practice but you will soon get the hang of it. If there is no trace at all, just stop the program and restart it and then follow these tips.

To get the best results from breathing exercises, you need to be consistent. Try to select a time of day when you have the time to sit quietly and focus on your breathing. Avoid training shortly after eating, or having alcoholic or caffeinated drinks.  If you miss one or two days you will soon catch up but longer gaps will require some extra sessions. Breath training is a lot like weight training; regular exercises maintain the improvements that you have gained.

The ranges are based on data for people that have similar personal profiles to you.  However, data can vary a lot both individually and at different times and situations. You should not be too concerned about the actual values shown on the dashboard.  More important are how these values change as you proceed with your exercises. However, if you do experience discomfort, dizziness, hyperventilation attacks or fainting spells, you should immediately stop the exercises and seek medical advice.

It is not very important as long as you start your breath holding somewhere close to the audio signals sounding. The app takes account of any variations that you might have.

Training exercises to improve your Breathing Resilience Index work by cycling the oxygen level in your blood up and down slightly.  It is easier to do this if your lungs have been emptied before starting the breath hold so you don’t have a reservoir of air to provide a back-up of oxygen.

Unfortunately not, as the camera on the iPad is not compatible with the breathesimple software.

Your profile is used to determine average breathing behavior values and your personal training targets by matching it to published data and comparison with people like you.

breathesimple follows the rules set out by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) to protect your personal health data.  These are the same rules followed by physicians, insurance companies and all healthcare providers. Your data is stored anonymously in our database and all data exchange is encrypted.  As soon as your encrypted data is uploaded to our HIPAA compliant server, it is deleted from your mobile phone.  A new encryption code is sent to your phone every time you log in.

This is to protect your data security.  The encryption key used during a training session is only valid for a short time and by logging in you receive a new valid encryption key which is only used for one training session.  Also if there are multiple accounts using one mobile device, entering a password ensures that the correct training programs are assigned to the correct person.

An index in the range 0-30 suggests that you have a good sleep pattern; 31-40 suggests that your sleep pattern is in a normal range; 41-65 suggests that your sleep pattern may be affecting your daily activities; and 66-100 suggests that your daytime sleepiness is high. If you have an index over 40, you may wish to discuss your sleepiness with your doctor.

Most people have developed poor breathing habits and it takes a little while and some effort to break these and learn to breathe correctly.  In particular, using your diaphragm rather than your chest muscles and your nose rather than your mouth are very important.  Altering your breathing patterns takes time and commitment but the long term benefits are worth it!

These are used to remind you to train and to provide you other useful hints and recommendations.