New research explores the relationship between the rhythm and intentionality of your breathing and the brain networks involved in the body’s mood, attention and awareness.
Slow down for a moment and pay attention to your breath!
It’s not just common sense advice. It also reflects what meditation, yoga, and other stress-reducing therapies teach: Focusing on the timing and rhythm of your breath can have positive effects on our body and mind. A new study from the “Journal of Neurophysiology” would support this thesis, revealing that different regions of the brain related to emotion, attention and awareness of the body are activated when we pay attention to our breath. Stimulated breathing involves conscious inhalation and exhalation at a predetermined pace. For example, you could inhale for 4 counts, exhale for 6, and repeat. Previous research shows that stimulated breathing exercises can both focus attention and regulate the nervous system.
These findings represent a breakthrough because, for years, we have considered the brain stem responsible for the breathing process. This study found that stimulated breathing also uses neural networks beyond the brain stem related to emotion, attention and awareness of the body. By tapping into these networks using our breath, we gain access to a powerful tool for regulating our stress responses.
In this study, researchers from the Feinstein Medical Research Institute wanted to better understand how the brain responds to different breathing exercises. They recruited six adults who had already undergone intracranial EEG monitoring for epilepsy. (EEG monitoring involves placing electrodes directly on the brain to record electrical activity and see where the seizures are coming from.) These adults were asked to take part in three breathing exercises while their brains were monitored.
In the first exercise, the participants rested with their eyes open for about eight minutes while breathing normally. They then sped up their breathing, at a rapid pace, for just over two minutes, as they breathed through their nose, then slowed back to regular breathing. They repeated this cycle eight times.
In the next exercise, the participants counted how many times they inhaled and exhaled for two-minute intervals and reported how many breaths they had taken. The researchers tracked how many breaths the participants took during each interval, noting when the answers were correct and incorrect.
Activity in the amygdala region suggests that a person’s rapid breathing rate can trigger brain states such as anxiety or feeling states, such as anger or fear … Conversely, it may be possible to reduce fear and anxiety by slowing down the breath.
Finally, the participants completed an attention activity while wearing a device that monitored their respiratory cycle. In it, they displayed a video screen containing black circles in several fixed positions. He was asked to press one of the 4 keys on the keyboard as quickly as possible when one of the circles went from black to white.
At the end of the study, the researchers looked to see how the participants’ breathing rates varied between different tasks and noted if their brain activity had changed depending on the task they were doing. They found that breathing affects regions of the brain including the cortex and midbrain more extensively than previously thought.
Managing Stress: possible through breath control?
What they found was increased activity across a network of brain structures, including the amygdala, when participants breathed rapidly. Activity in the amygdala suggests that rapid breathing rate can trigger feelings such as anxiety, anger, or fear. Other studies have shown that we tend to be more in tune with fear when we breathe rapidly. Conversely, it may be possible to reduce fear and anxiety by slowing your breathing.
The present study also identified a strong connection between participants’ intentional (i.e., stimulated) breathing and activation in the insula. The insula regulates the autonomic nervous system and is linked to body awareness.
Previous studies have linked intentional breathing to posterior insular activation, suggesting that paying close attention to the breath can increase awareness of one’s body states, a key skill learned in practices such as yoga and meditation. Finally, the researchers noted that when participants closely monitored their breathing, both the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region involved in moment-to-moment awareness, were active.
In conclusion, the results of this study support a link between the types of breathing (rapid, intentional and attentional) and the activation of brain structures involved in thinking, feeling and behavior. This raises the possibility that particular breathing strategies can be used as a tool to help people manage their thoughts, moods and experiences.