I sleep with my wife and (when she graces us with her presence) our cat. Last night I caught myself syncing my breath to their breaths while sleeping, or half-sleeping considering I was aware of what was happening. Eventually their breathing went out of sync, and my breathing got confused, and after a very brief period of suffocation, I realized that I have no obligation to sync my breath, and took control of my breathing and started breathing normally. It felt strange to me but I googled it and it looks like syncing your breath happens to people. Does it happen to you as well?

PS: I realized while typing, I don't know if I should be hearing my 3kg cat's breathing. I should check on that.

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[–] namelivia@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

You unblocked me an ancient memory, That's something I used to do all the time when I was a toddler and my parents let me be in their bed.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 8 points 2 years ago

I don't, but it's fine to hear your cat breathing. It doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with the cat, though, I'm not stopping you from a vets checkup if you think their breathing is too loud.

What surprised me was that you were trying to sync to a cat, that's not easy. Even when sleeping, cats breathe much faster.

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago

Yes, I've caught myself doing the same every now and than.

[–] Bebo@literature.cafe 5 points 2 years ago

This is the first time I am reading about something like this. Very interesting.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Doesn’t a cat breathe really fast? I can’t imagine trying to keep up with that. Similarly, I caught myself synching to 1/2 my ex’s breathing, because our rates were naturally too far apart

[–] LegionEris@feddit.nl 1 points 2 years ago

I can't hear well enough to do this. Even if I turned off the fan that drowns out the tinnitus, I wouldn't be able to hear my wife breathing like that o_o