Study finds each breath is closely linked to brain activity tied to memory, emotion

A study has found that each breath is closely linked to patterns of neural activity in brain involved in cognition emotion and memory suggesting that the brain is tracking subtle variations between breathsChanges in breathing such as a longer inhale or slower exhale are reflected in corresponding patterns of neural activity revealing a much more precise connection between breathing and the brain than traditional measures like breaths per minuteEvery single breath is different first author Eena KosikRose a PhD student in the University of California San Diegos department of cognitive science saidYou can pause your breathing for several seconds take a super deep breath or have a shallow exhale What were showing is that those differences in the shape of each breath are reflected in the shape of brain activity KosikRose saidFor the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience researchers represented each breath as a wavelike pattern with the rises and falls corresponding to changes in airflow as a person inhales and exhalesThe shape of each respiratory wave was compared with the corresponding pattern of electrical activity in the brainUnlike a simple measure of breathing rate the approach captures subtle differences in timing volume and shape from one breath to the next the researchers saidBy leveraging invasive human brain recordings from 16 participants 8 female 8 male we found respirationneural waveform coupling on a breathbybreath cyclebycycle basis across limbic and cortical forebrain regions the authors wrotePrevious studies have found that the timing of breathing can influence attention and memoryPeople were found to perform slightly better on a memory task when they encounter information while inhaling rather than exhalingBreath control is also used to help calm people experiencing symptoms of PTSDOur results show that the coupling between breathing and neural activity is much richer than previously appreciated and our approach opens new avenues for studying these peripheraltocentral nervous system interactions in a more robust temporally precise manner the team saidThe researchers said the findings provide a new way to study one of the bodys most fundamental rhythmsThe study could eventually help better understand conditions in which the relationship between breathing and the brain goes dangerously awry such as in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy SUDEP and sudden infant death syndrome SIDS they saidFuture research could investigate whether the breathing pattern provides a warning that breathing is about to stop in SUDEP or SIDS coauthor Bradley Voytek professor and chair of the department of cognitive science saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever