Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Breathing to lose weight?

The "Senobi"
This one just looks weird!  It reckons that a basic breathing exercise can up regulate the output of certain hormones.

The whole paper is available as pdf

Here is the abstract:

The "Senobi" breathing exercise is recommended as first line treatment for obesity.
Sato K, Kawamura T, Yamagiwa S.



Neuroadrenergic abnormalities, including a predominant activity of parasympathetic nerve and blunted hormone secretion, are recognized in the overweight patients. This study aimed to examine whether the "Senobi" breathing method, a stretch-breathing exercise that we have developed, could activate or recover sympathetic nervous system activity that leads to the loss of body weight. Forty pre-menopausal women, aged 40 to 50 years, participated in this study. Twenty were healthy and the other 20 were overweight (body mass index > 25 and body fat > 30%). Sympathetic nerve activity was assessed using equipment that analyzes cardiac-beat variation, and several urinary hormone levels were examined before and 30 min after performing the "Senobi" breathing exercise. The average proportion of sympathetic nerve among healthy women during daytime hours (10 : 00 AM to 12 : 00 PM) was 62.6% ± 2.6%. On the other hand, that of overweight women was 33.5% ± 0.4%. After 1 min of the "Senobi" breathing, substantial up-regulation of sympathetic nerve activity and increased urinary hormone secretion were observed in the overweight women but not in the healthy controls. Moreover, after repeating the exercise for a month, the obese patients showed significant loss of body fat. The "Senobi" breathing exercise was found to be effective for weight loss in obesity possibly by regulating the autonomic nervous system and the hormone secretion.

11 comments:

michael said...

I am not an expert, but I think it sounds alot like yoga's pranayama. Many systems of yoga have lots of exercises that are supposed to influence the nervous system. I always found it odd that yoga advocates holding the stomach inward while doing many of the exercises (in order to help "seal" the energy) and people like Pavel advocate tightening the stomach (as if you are going to be punched).
Incidently Chris, great website. You really do a fine job keeping us with much up to date information.

Greg said...

It would be nice to post some instructional video or at least a description of how to do this technique.

SafeNSharp said...

So, what IS Senobi breathing exactly? Related to Makko Ho at all?

garymar said...

Senobi simply means "stretch" -- literally, back extension.

I just googled "senobi" in Japanese and got about 4 books by an obesity expert, Kazunari Sato. That must be the K Sato of the report. All 4 books are about the "stretching diet". The most popular seems to be "The Doctor's Stretching Diet".

Here's the bio page of the good doctor himself: http://senobi.sakura.ne.jp/user_data/senobi_health.php

First line below his name reads as follows: "An MD/PhD and Japan's only 'Diet Sommelier'. One of 24 doctors in Japan who putting the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome on a scientific basis."

rod said...

I really enjoy your articles and research. I just started a fitness lifestyle blog lookfeelperform.blogspot.com. Would it be appropriate for myself to post any links of your articles for review. Thanks

Pat said...

It sounds a little silly. It looks like the participants perform the stretch and then they test them immediately afterwards. I know I always feel better immediately after I stretch too, but to assume there's a longer lasting benefit without anything more? Am I missing something?

Ryan @ Fat Loss Informant said...

Very cool stuff.

I have to say, the benefits of focused deep breathing are far reaching, and Yoga is well known to have many health benefits. It's good to see some actual research around the subject.

Hopefully people will understand that this is useful only when supplemented with a good diet and exercise and don't hope that breathing is the new magic pill to the perfect body.

Thanks for the great article,
Talk soon,
Ryan "The Fat Loss Informant"

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Stratzol said...

To achieve total weight loss, knowing the kind of food you take will determine if it will help to burn fat easier. Food replacement is a good alternative for a healthier diet.

Vitamins Canada said...

I agree that it's like yoga. It can really help in weight loss because it reduces your stress. We all know that stress and lack of energy can affect our diet.

quickest way to lose weight said...

Exercise is the most factual thing to lose weight. In fact, it's the way for me to lose and maintain my weight. I didn't know that even in breathing you can actually lose weight. I would have to try this one.