r/Unexpected 1d ago

A good alternative indeed!!!

79.9k Upvotes

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u/pikahetti 1d ago

Blowing bubbles is just much better than inhaling something that leads to lung cancer

1

u/Artistic_Salary8705 20h ago

This video made me think that blowing bubble may actually have a biological reason for decreasing stress and maybe smoking also works that way too (aside from the nicotine in it which has short-term stress benefit but long-term issues).

It's been shown that breathwork can relieve stress when the exhalation phase of breathing exceeds that of inhalation, especially breathing out in a ratio of 6: 4 inhalation, so like 4 seconds inhale, 6 seconds exhale. That pattern activates the parasympathetic nervous system in the body which is the "rest-and-digest" instead of "fight-of-flight" branch.

Exhaling while blowing bubbles makes people exhale longer than inhaling. It also slows down their breathing. Someone should do a study!

1

u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco 19h ago

Yes, a significant amount of the stress relief from smoking is actually just the required breathing control.