The goal was to create a feature that is different from what already exists, otherwise, it has no interest. That's why we wanted to leverage what the Circular ring offers that is different from the others, which is the haptic feedback. We noticed that the problem with other breathing apps is that many people lose their concentration because of the screen of their phone. To overcome this we have created a feature that not only tracks your biometrics while exercising but also guides you in real-time with vibration on the type of breathing to perform. You can now concentrate on your breathing by closing your eyes and not be distracted by your screen.

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The breathing exercises

Circular has made a selection of the most popular breathing exercises that brings the most benefits.

The 4-7-8 exercise lets you fall asleep faster. This breathing practice can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system responsible for resting putting the body in a state more conducive to restful sleep.

The 4-4-4-4 exercise lets you relieve your stress. This exercise is also called box breathing. It's a very simple stress management exercise. It's a type of paced breathing that follows a certain rhythm and help you minimize stress.

The 5-10-15 exercise is one of the most popular breath-holding exercises. It induces a high state of relaxation that even improves your apnea skills. You will benefit from newfound energy to carry on highly demanding activities.

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Haptic feedback to guide you through the exercise

During your exercise, you will feel vibrations on your ring. The number of vibrations will tell you what specific breathing you need to perform. You can memorize them in order not to look at your phone for maximum peace of mind.

Types of vibrations:

1 vibration - Inhaling

2 vibrations - Exhaling

3 vibrations - Holding

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Biometrics tracking & session report

Would you like to have an evaluation of your breathing session? Did I perform my exercise right? What is the impact of this exercise on my body and mind? These are questions you may have. And you are right! As we often say, quantification is a tool for knowledge and knowledge is power. That's why, once again, we are leveraging the benefits of wearable devices to enhance your breathing experience.

Thanks to the sensors of the ring, we perform a live measurement of your heart rate and your heart rate variability during your breathing session. They are calculated every second during your session. In the end, an average of the entire session are made and are shown through a report. You can compare your session average values with your daily average values (resting heart rate and heart rate variability) to evaluate where you stand and how the exercise helped you.

But that's not all, the ring tracks another metric that will let you know whether or not you have done your exercise properly.

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Heart coherence

Coherence is like a frequency wave. When the heart rhythm is erratic, the corresponding pattern of neural signals traveling from the heart to the brain inhibits higher cognitive functions. This limits our ability to think, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions. On the contrary, the more ordered pattern of the heart’s input to the brain during positive emotional states has the opposite effect – it facilitates cognitive function and reinforces positive feelings and emotional stability.

‍The goal here is to change your heart rhythm pattern to create physiological coherence with the targeted mood of the exercise.

Circular calculates a coherence score. This score gives feedback on how well you accomplished your breathing exercises. It analyzes if your heartbeat cycles are synchronized with the expected breathing rate of the exercise.

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Conclusion

You can now explore guided breathing exercises for recovery, better sleep, and stress relief, straight through your Circular app.

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References

https://www.heartmath.com/science/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/