Your Breath Is Like a Fingerprint: Study Finds Each Person Has a Unique Breathing Pattern
A new study finds that your breathing style is as unique as your fingerprint, offering insights into both your identity and emotional health—potentially reshaping how we view respiration.
A team of scientists has uncovered a surprising new biometric tool—your breath. In a recent discovery, researchers found that the way we breathe is not only distinctive but deeply personal. This breakthrough may open new doors in both identification and health monitoring.
A Breathprint That’s All Your Own
Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have discovered that every individual has a unique "breathprint." By continuously tracking nasal airflow over a 24-hour period, the team was able to identify people with 96.8 percent accuracy based solely on their breathing patterns. This finding introduces an entirely new biometric marker—how you breathe.
The team used a soft, wearable device with tiny tubes resting under the nostrils. Unlike traditional lung function tests that last just a few minutes, this method captured natural breathing throughout a person’s daily routine. Even across different days and activities like resting, walking, or working, each participant’s pattern remained consistent.
Much like fingerprints, humans can be identified using their nasal airflow patterns.
— Niko McCarty. (@NikoMcCarty) June 15, 2025
By measuring air as it flows in and out of the nose over a 24-hour period, researchers identified individuals with up to 96.8% accuracy (in a cohort of 97 people). pic.twitter.com/YgZk8yqxpZ
Sobel explained that breathing is shaped by brain activity, and since each brain is different, so is each breathing pattern. The researchers describe the data as a “brain readout,” highlighting the deep neurological link between breath and identity.
More Than Just Identity: Breath as a Health Indicator
What makes this research especially promising is its insight into emotional and physical health. The study revealed connections between breathing styles and a person’s body mass index, sleep cycles, and mental health markers like anxiety and depression. Even subtle behavioral traits appeared to leave an imprint on breath.
For example, participants who scored higher on anxiety tests had shorter inhales and more irregular pauses in their breathing during sleep. These patterns were observed even though the participants had no clinical diagnoses. Such findings suggest breath monitoring could become a valuable non-invasive tool for understanding internal states.
Co-author Timna Soroka noted that breath analysis may go beyond identification to become a meaningful part of mental health care.
From Discovery to Treatment Potential
The researchers believe that breathing could play a role in improving emotional well-being. If altered breathing patterns contribute to anxiety or low mood, then helping people mimic healthier patterns could offer relief. The team is now studying breathwork’s long-term effects.
The current nasal device is bulky and not suited for daily use, but future models aim to be sleeker and more user-friendly. It also doesn’t track mouth breathing—a limitation future versions may address.
This research was published in the journal Current Biology, part of Cell Press. The findings mark a step toward using breathing patterns not only for diagnostics but also as a possible form of therapy in the future.
News references:
Muse, Q. “Your Unique Breathing Patterns May Reveal Your Identity and Mental Health” https://neurosciencenews.com/breathing-mental-health-identity-29266/
Sobel, Noam, et al. “Humans Have Nasal Respiratory Fingerprints.” Current Biology, vol. 34, no. 12, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.029.