Shell-blowing ritual in antiquity potentially aids in alleviating regular sleep disturbances

In an exciting development, researchers are planning a larger trial involving several hospitals to validate and expand on their findings that the ancient practice of shankh blowing, also known as conch blowing, could improve sleep for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

For those unfamiliar, OSA is a condition that occurs when the walls of the throat relax and narrow or close, causing symptoms such as choking noises, loud snoring, and waking up a lot. OSA patients have a higher risk of high blood pressure, strokes, and heart disease, and a proportion of them experience sleepiness during the day.

The condition is thought to impact about eight million people in the UK, and current treatments like Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines can be expensive and cumbersome.

In the upcoming trial, Dr. Lucia Pinilla and her team at the FHMRI Sleep Health research center will evaluate the long-term efficacy of shankh blowing. The small trial involved 30 people aged between 19 and 65 with OSA. For the trial, 16 people were provided with a traditional shankh and trained to use it properly, while the remaining 14 people were asked to perform deep breathing exercises. Both groups were encouraged to practice for a minimum of 15 minutes five days a week.

After six months, those who practised shankh blowing reported sleeping better and were 34% less sleepy during the day. They also had higher levels of oxygen in their blood during the night and had four to five fewer apnoeas, where breathing stops during sleep, per hour on average.

Dr. Krishna K Sharma, who led the study, suggests that the unique method of shankh blowing creates strong vibrations and airflow resistance, which likely strengthens the muscles of the upper airway, potentially helping OSA patients. The shankh's unique spiralling structure may contribute to specific acoustic and mechanical effects that further stimulate and tone the upper airway muscles.

Professor Sophia Schiza, head of the ERS group on sleep disordered breathing, finds the study intriguing and believes shankh blowing could potentially offer an OSA treatment by targeting muscles training. She emphasises that a larger study will help provide more evidence for this intervention, which could be of benefit as a treatment option or in combination with other treatments in selected OSA patients.

While Cpap and other treatments are available based on careful diagnosis of disease severity, there is still a need for new treatments. Dr. Sharma wants to study how shankh blowing affects airway muscle tone, oxygen levels, and sleep in greater detail, including comparing it with standard treatments like Cpap.

If the larger trial confirms the initial findings, shankh blowing could become a simple, low-cost breathing technique that could potentially improve sleep and reduce symptoms without the need for machines or medication for OSA patients.

Shell-blowing ritual in antiquity potentially aids in alleviating regular sleep disturbances