Link Between Breathing and Brain Activity Revealed

Each breath appears to leave a distinct imprint on brain activity, according to research from the University of California that links inhalation and exhalation patterns with cognition, emotion and memory.

The researchers found that the shape of an individual breath corresponded to broader patterns of neural activity in areas involved in emotions, motivation, pleasure, thought, attention and memory. “Each breath has, so to speak, a fingerprint in terms of its impact on brain activity and mental state,” said Eena Kosik-Rose, one of the study’s authors.

The team examined patients with epilepsy who had electrodes implanted in their brains for therapeutic purposes. It represented each breath as a wave-like pattern, then compared the peaks and valleys of those patterns with the shape of brain waves.

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Each breath has, so to speak, a fingerprint in terms of its impact on brain activity and mental state.

Longer inhalation, slower exhalation and other changes in the duration or intensity of breathing appeared in corresponding neural activity patterns. The findings point to a more precise connection between breathing and the brain than traditional measurements that count only breaths per minute.

Humans can voluntarily alter a process that normally happens automatically. People can pause their breathing, take a deep inhalation or make a shallow exhalation while speaking or singing. “What we are showing is that those differences in the pattern of each breath are reflected in the pattern of brain activity,” said Bradley Voytek, another study author. He said the relationship between breathing and neural activity is more complex than previously thought.

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You can stop breathing for several seconds, take a very deep breath or make a shallow exhalation. What we are showing is that those differences in the pattern of each breath are reflected in the pattern of brain activity.