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眞鍋かをりのBUSINESS FRONTIERS【2026年2月2日】　ゲスト：「すごい睡眠呼吸」の著者・トラタニ株式会社代表取締役　虎谷生央さん

February 2, 2026·29 min·2 clips

A 42,000-patient US study found atrial fibrillation is caused by oxygen deficiency during sleep, not aging.

Host Manabe Kaori introduces Toratani Ikuo, CEO of Toratani Co., Ltd., a company known for women's innerwear including girdles and body-shaping garments. Toratani explains the company began as a small sewing workshop making girdles, and his pivot to health products was triggered by his wife's discomfort with ill-fitting pants. In his late 60s, Toratani developed severe insomnia linked to back pain, which led to a cascade of health problems including a scalp condition, atrial fibrillation requiring two catheter ablation surgeries, and a worsening of a 50-year stomach complaint. Searching for the cause of his insomnia, he identified breathing quality as the root problem and began self-experimentation. He explains that breathing and the autonomic nervous system are tightly coupled: shallow breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, while deep breathing activates the parasympathetic. He argues that while food is widely discussed as the foundation of health, breathing is more fundamental because oxygen is required to convert nutrients into ATP, the cellular energy molecule. Toratani describes the correct resting tongue position — tip pressed to the upper jaw near the base of the teeth — and explains how a tongue resting on the lower teeth loosens chin muscles, drops the tongue, opens the mouth, and forces mouth breathing. He notes that nasal breathing produces nitric oxide in the nasal cavity, which dilates blood vessels, while mouth breathing eliminates this benefit. He dismisses mouth-taping as ineffective because the underlying problem is jaw-drop caused by weak chin muscles, not the mouth itself. His solution is a specially designed pillow with a central depression that keeps the head and back at the same height — near zero elevation — to prevent jaw drop during sleep, developed over five years of prototype testing while half-asleep. He recounts that his atrial fibrillation symptoms gradually disappeared during his sleep experiments, and he later found a US study tracking 42,000 atrial fibrillation patients that identified sleep-time oxygen deficiency as the primary cause. He argues that current sleep research addresses oxygen deficiency but largely ignores the simultaneous autonomic nervous system disruption caused by shallow breathing. Toratani explains rib mechanics: the lower ribs are designed to move freely, but when they close — especially in older people — exhalation becomes restricted, which in turn prevents full inhalation. He has developed a compression tank top that applies lateral pressure to the ribs, which he says increases breathing depth by approximately 20% in his own testing. He and Manabe discuss how exhaling activates the parasympathetic nervous system via the vagus nerve running along the esophagus near the diaphragm, making long exhalations particularly valuable for relaxation and health. Both agree that breathing is systematically undervalued compared to diet, and that its quality is difficult to measure, which contributes to its neglect in mainstream health discourse. Toratani states his remaining life mission is to raise public awareness of breathing quality and autonomic nervous system balance. The episode closes with a preview of a follow-up episode where Toratani will share his personal daily breathing practices.

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