Inhaling stimulates brain and memories
UNITED STATES: Taking a big breath when trying to remember could be a simple way to boost recall, scientists believe, after finding that inhaling stimulates the brain.
Researchers in the United States discovered that the rhythm of the breath creates electrical activity in the brain where emotions, memory and smells are processed.
In experiments, individuals were able to identify a face two seconds more quickly if they encountered it when breathing in through the nose, compared to breathing out. They were also more likely to remember an object if they encountered it on the inhaled breath rather than the exhaled one.
But the effect disappeared if breathing was through the mouth.
‘‘One of the major findings in this study is that there is a dramatic difference in brain activity during inhalation compared with exhalation,’’ said lead author Dr Christina Zelano, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
‘‘When you breathe in, we discovered you are stimulating neurons in the olfactory cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, all across the limbic system (which controls instinct and mood). When you inhale, you are in a sense synchronising brain oscillations across the limbic network.’’
The scientists initially noticed the differences in brain activity while studying seven patients with epilepsy who were scheduled for brain surgery. Before surgery, a surgeon implanted electrodes into the patients’ brains in order to identify the origin of their seizures. It also allowed scientists to acquire electro-physiological data directly from their brains.
- Telegraph Group