Toratani Co., Ltd. of Kahoku City, Ishikawa Prefecture, is continuing its Night Oxygen Flow Project, which examines the reality of breathing infrastructure during sleep, and has released a new analysis on the current theme. The project organizes, from a physiological perspective, how shallow breathing affects the autonomic nervous system, blood flow, and metabolism, and will apply these insights to future awareness activities and product development. Reactive oxygen species are often seen as harmful, but they are actually an advanced system for protecting the body. They are commonly misunderstood as a cause of aging or as villains that make the body rust. In essence, however, the opposite is true: reactive oxygen species are a defense system produced to protect the body. The issue is not the amount itself, but whether the mechanisms that stop them from running out of control are functioning. The most upstream factor that determines this is the depth of breathing. Reactive oxygen species are not poison, but a defensive reaction of the body. ROS are substances produced by the body to protect itself. They attack bacteria and viruses, help process inflammation, and function as cellular switches. In other words, reactive oxygen species exist because they are necessary. The problem is not quantity, but runaway production. Reactive oxygen species become problematic when they are produced in excess and the body can no longer process them. Antioxidant enzymes, the parasympathetic nervous system, and the stability of the internal environment stop this runaway state. These are the body’s braking mechanisms. The most upstream cause of this runaway state is shallow breathing. When breathing becomes shallow, cells become less able to use oxygen properly, increasing reactive oxygen species as intracellular byproducts. During sleep, changes in airway angle, sinking of the rib cage, and restriction of the diaphragm create what the company describes as the “90-degree gravity physics