Your breathing is like an invisible fingerprint - individual, unique and revealing
26.6.2025
Translation: machine translated
Your breath is a personal code. It reveals how you are feeling - physically and mentally. And it is so individual that you can be recognised by it, researchers have now discovered using a new measurement method.
You are breathing right now. Completely automatically - without thinking. But what flows through your nose is more than just air. Researchers from Israel have found out: Your breathing pattern is as unique as your fingerprint - and reveals not only who you are, but also how you are feeling.
The breath signature - your invisible ID
In the new study, a small portable device was used to measure the airflow through both nostrils - continuously for 24 hours. Sounds simple, but it had never been done before. And it produced astonishingly precise predictions: with this so-called «Nasal Holter», the test subjects could be identified with almost 97 per cent accuracy - based on their breathing pattern alone. This means that the nose even beats the voice in terms of recognition value.
Every person creates their own rhythmic pattern when breathing: how long you breathe in and out, how much air flows through which nostril, how evenly the whole thing flows - all of this is typical for you. And the fascinating thing is: This signature remains stable for months, even years.
Source: Soroka et al., Current Biology
Sleep, weight, mood - all in the breath
The researchers also discovered that your breath reveals a lot more about you. For example, whether you are asleep or awake. When we sleep, we breathe more quietly, slowly and unevenly - a bit like in energy-saving mode. Based on the breathing data alone, the scientists were able to tell with 100 per cent accuracy whether someone was slumbering or wide awake.
Body weight also leaves its mark on breathing patterns. People with a higher BMI usually breathe with more volume during sleep. But even without measuring the volume, the «nasal cycle alone» - i.e. how regularly the left and right nostrils are active - could provide information about weight. Apparently, it is not only the lungs but also the brain that influence how we breathe.
The psyche breathes too
And even our mood is reflected in our breathing. The researchers were able to draw conclusions about depressive moods, anxiety or autistic traits in the participants. For example, people with higher depression levels inhale more forcefully when awake and take longer pauses after exhaling.
A future early warning system from the nose?
These are not yet diagnoses, but merely correlating patterns that the researchers have noticed statistically. But they do show: Individual breath reacts to more than sport or stress - it is a sensitive barometer of your inner state.
The idea of recognising illnesses at an early stage based on breathing patterns is not just science fiction. The researchers have already applied for patents - for example, for the diagnosis of neurological diseases using respiratory signatures. In the future, small wearables could monitor breathing and sound the alarm at an early stage.
What can you learn from this research? Your nose is more than just a ventilation shaft. It carries a kind of invisible business card - and provides information about you that you may not even know yet.
And: A few deep, conscious breaths can never hurt, they help against stress, tension and mental blocks.
Guidebooks
Elektrobock ATEMTECHNIKEN - Atmen Sie sich frei & gesund: Wie Sie durch effektive Atemübungen dauerhaft Str
German, Fit Life, 2023
Header image: Kelvin Alverio/Pexels
Anna Sandner
Senior Editor
Anna.Sandner@galaxus.deScience editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always outside - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.
