Pondering. When you breathe through your nose, does both nostrils take in the same amount of air?

[debm55]

What do you think?

[GreenWave]

1. I will say no due to the subtle differences when we go through from embryo to adult.

Arms are not exactly the same length and many other body parts that occur in pairs are not identical. So I would suspect the lungs have subtle differences too, but I am not a doctor nor did I spend time at the Holiday Inn Express.

[debm55]

2. HAHAHAHA, good answer, Just pondering.

[Alice Kramden]

3. One or the other nostril is dominant

And they periodically switch between the two. I learned this in my clinical aromatherapy studies.

[debm55]

8. Wow, a dominant nostril. This is why I love this place! Learn something new everyday!

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Your local ENT Otolaryngologist can equalize them for you

with yards of probes, reamers, snakes, cutters.

Allergy and inflammation is the biggest problem in noses.

Surprised this subject wasn't probed in Woody Allen's "Sleeper".

[debm55]

10. And of course if one side is stuffed from a cold.

[Deuxcents]

5. I know mine aren't.. I ran into a glass sliding door

Years ago and ruptured my septum. I’m not into pain so I never had it fixed..I just put up with it

[debm55]

14. Does it hurt?

[Deuxcents]

15. Not anymore. When it happened,

I bounced off the floor because I hit the slider so hard. I had a black eye from it, too. I cleaned that door with windex multiple times but my imprint of my face stayed on for a while!

[ret5hd]

6. Only inhale thru left, exhale thru right...

Duh!!! Everybody knows that!

[debm55]

11. You just made that up.

[LakeArenal]

7. Not with a deviated septum.

Experience….

[debm55]

12. See your point.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. No. Generally similar amounts, but never exactly the same

The question is an example of binary thinking, false choice fallacy. Considered that way, the answer is immediately obvious: "no".

In the real world, most quantities are "real" numbers mathematically speaking and not integers ( "counting numbers" ), especially where they are not counting discrete, distinct, units in smallish numbers.

So the quantity of air is going to be a real number, since we don't count individual atoms in situations like this. We measure it.

If the quantity in the left nostril is, say, 10 cubic centimetres per second, then that is only to a certain precision. If we measure it with higher precision (and hopefully great accuracy), it might actually be 10.12 cc/s +/- 0.02 cc/s.

The left nostril, absent major deformities from natural or accidental causes, would generally get a similar amount, but not identical amount. It might be 10.15 cc/s or 9.89 cc/s, +/- 0.02 cc/s.

So considering this logic, would they ever be "the same"? Hardly ever, unless one's measurements are very crude and sloppy like 10 +/- 5 cc/s.



A person might ask "how much is 'the same'?".

[debm55]

13. Thank you and one side could be filled with snot from a cold.

[Deuxcents]

16. That could be a problem so I carry a Vicks

Inhaler in my pocketbook..clears it right up even if ya don’t have a ruptured septum.

[debm55]

17. Vicks never worked for me. When my nose is stuffed I become a mouth breather.

[Deuxcents]

18. 🤗

[3catwoman3]

19. Nostrils take turns throughout the day.

Throughout the day, each nostril takes regular breaks by alternating contraction and expansion called the nasal cycle. This changeover occurs every 2-4 hours. Right now, if you're breathing through your nose, most of the air is going in and out of one side, with a much smaller amount passing through the other.

More at link. It's a short article.

https://breathesimple.com/blog/nasal-switching#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20day%2C%20each%20nostril,amount%20passing%20through%20the%20other.