Just like our heartrate, breathing is traditionally thought of as an automatic process governed by our ancestral reptilian brain (the brainstem). But by observing what happens in the brains of people that practice breathing techniques, a recent study from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research (New York) has just demonstrated the brain benefits of controlled breathing. How does good breathing influence our mental health?

For a very long time, consciously controlled breathing has been used as part of therapeutic techniques (cognitive-behavioral) whose underlying mechanisms remain largely uninvestigated. This research, published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, was designed to shed light on these mechanisms to better understand why these techniques are effective. The scientists decided to use intra-cranial recordings (iEEG) in patients with electrodes implanted in the brain (as part of a clinical treatment for epilepsy). Using this method, they were able to study the cortical and limbic neuronal activity and its relation to respiratory cycles.

Jose Luis Herrero (a postdoctoral researcher), in collaboration with Dr. Ashesh D. Mehta, a renowned neurosurgeon at NorthShore School of Medicine (Long Island) first observed what happened in the brains of patients breathing normally and the while they were involved in a simple distraction task. Participants in the experiment had to click a button when circles appeared on a computer screen. Finally, they were asked to perform the following exercises: increase their breathing pace and count their breaths. Thus, the researchers were able to observe what happens when participants breathed naturally and when they consciously controlled their breathing.

The results indicate that voluntary control and breathing awareness involve distinct but overlapping brain circuits. More precisely, while the subject voluntarily increases their breathing, iEEG-breath coherence increases in a frontotemporal-insular network, and when they count their breaths, the activity is higher in the anterior cingulate, premotor, insular cortices and the hippocampus. According to the authors: "breathing can act as an organizing hierarchical principle for neuronal oscillations throughout the brain.”

This research justifies the importance of breathing exercises because controlling breathing offers “access” to additional synchrony between certain areas of the brain. So try to take control of your breathing from time to time, it can only help!