nowfound

Growth · April 14, 2023

Don't Hold Your Breath – Breathing Analysis with Polar H10 HR Monitor

A person's heart rate fluctuates based on factors such as activity, environment, and mental state. Additionally, heart rate variations occur on a much shorter timescale, with changes happening every few seconds. During inhalation, heart rate slightly increases, and it decreases again during exhalation, a phenomenon known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, an increase in volume within the thoracic cavity (the space between the ribs) leads to a corresponding drop in pressure, which is counteracted by a rise in heart rate to regulate blood pressure.…

Don't Hold Your Breath – Breathing Analysis with Polar H10 HR Monitor launched on April 14, 2023 with 51 votes, #1,455 of 4,853 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 3 years on.

In plain words

Don't Hold Your Breath is a breathing analysis tool that works with the Polar H10 heart rate monitor to track respiratory sinus arrhythmia—the natural fluctuations in heart rate that occur during inhalation and exhalation. The software measures heart rate variability and breathing patterns to help users understand their autonomic nervous system response and stress levels. It is designed for people interested in exploring the physiological connections between breathing, heart rate, and their parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

Breathing analysis with Polar H10 Heart Rate Monitor - kieranabrennan/dont-hold-your-breath

In the maker’s words, at launch

A person's heart rate fluctuates based on factors such as activity, environment, and mental state. Additionally, heart rate variations occur on a much shorter timescale, with changes happening every few seconds. During inhalation, heart rate slightly increases, and it decreases again during exhalation, a phenomenon…

Does a similar job

all alternatives →
  • Every Breath You Take – Heart Rate Variability Training2023 · github.com · ▲348

    Through controlled breathing it is possible to regulate your body's stress response. I've built an app to measure and train this effect with a Polar H10 Heart Rate monitor. With every breath you take, you can set the pace of your breathing rate, measure your breathing control with the chest accelerometer, and see how heart rate variability responds.

  • Breathe CLI – Paced resonance breathing in the macOS terminalMay 2026 · github.com · ▲132

    I built a terminal app that paces slow breathing at 6 breaths per minute for vagal tone training. It's a single Python file, stdlib only, no dependencies — just run breathe and follow the bar. I'm a cardiology patient (HFrEF). Slow breathing at resonance frequency is one of the few non-pharmacological interventions shown to improve cardiac vagal tone and baroreflex sensitivity (Bernardi et al., Circulation 2002; Lancet 1998). I wanted a frictionless daily habit tool — no app store, no account, no subscription, just open terminal and go. Design constraints, all grounded in the clinical…

  • Resonance2023 · resonance.so · ▲106

    Monitor and improve your stress resilience with HRV & Breath

  • Mindbreath2021 · play.google.com · ▲69

    Breathing Exercises & Heart Rate Monitoring

  • I'm a doctor and made a responsive breathing app for stress and anxiety2023 · lungy.app · ▲666

    Hey HN! Some more info: I’m an NHS doctor and the founder of Pi-A (https://www.pi-a.io) which developed Lungy (https://www.lungy.app). Lungy is an app (iOS only for now) that responds to breathing in real-time and was designed to make breathing exercises more engaging and beneficial to do. It hopefully has many aspects of interest to the HN community – real-time fluid, cloth and soft body sims running on the phone’s GPU. My background is as a junior surgical trainee and I started building Lungy in 2020 during the first COVID lockdown in London. During COVID, there were…

  • Sigh2023 · apps.apple.com · ▲76

    Reduce overall stress in 5 minutes with cyclic breathing

More growth this month

the category →
  • wallhop is a free paywall bypass. Paste any article link to read it without paywall popups, ads or clutter. No signup, no extension. A simple 12ft.io alternative.

    Growth · 13d ago · wallhop.io

  • Prefer▲201

    The execution layer for AEO

    Growth · 25d ago · tryprefer.com

  • MakerMap▲197

    A living map of makers and what they’re building

    Growth · 28d ago · makermap.lol

Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part

Launched alongside, April 2023

the whole month →
  • Guidde AI▲1,476

    Create video documentation instantly with the magic of AI

    AI · 2023 · guidde.com

  • G4

    Hi HN, Today we’re launching GPT-4 answers on Phind.com, a developer-focused search engine that uses generative AI to browse the web and answer technical questions, complete with code examples and detailed explanations. Unlike vanilla GPT-4, Phind feeds in relevant websites and technical documentation, reducing the model’s hallucination and keeping it up-to-date. To use it, simply enable the “Expert” toggle before doing a search. GPT-4 is making a night-and-day difference in terms of answer quality. For a question like “How can I RLHF a LLaMa model”, Phind in Expert mode delivers a…

    AI · 2023 · phind.com

  • Lago▲1,013

    Open-source alternative to Stripe Billing and Chargebee

    Dev tools · 2023 · getlago.com

  • Chatscout▲691

    Shopping assistant powered by ChatGPT for e-commerce brands

    AI · 2023

  • Fabric▲690

    Make notes, tasks, and search, directly from the terminal.

    AI · 2023 · fabric.so

  • Rask AI▲683

    Say it in any language, AI based, sounds as good as a human

    AI · 2023 · rask.ai