Our bodies are amazing; we can go for prolonged periods without food, water, or even sleep; however, we cannot survive without breathing. But how much attention and consideration do we pay to this crucial function? Do we fully comprehend the significance of breathing for both our mental and physical well-being? So today we are going to discuss a few aspects of it…

How Important Breathing is?

Having breath gives us energy and uur bodies’ cells require fresh oxygen constantly to produce energy, so breathing is necessary to get it to them. When we breathe, we also allow our bodies to expel the waste materials and toxins that they produce. If these substances are not expelled, they can easily remain stagnant in our bodies and impair essential processes.

The process of breathing is peculiar and unique to the human body. Similar to how blood circulates throughout our bodies, we do this a large portion of the time unconsciously, but we always have the option to alter the rhythm.

Body-mind connection (why breathing has a tremendous effect on our emotions, physics, and thinking mind)

Additionally, neuroscientists found that when you breathe in, your brain activity significantly changes. The amygdala, hippocampus, and piriform cortex are all affected by inhalation. 70 people between the ages of 18 and 30 took part in a study. Each participant was required to watch short videos of faces on a computer screen while being connected to a breathing monitor.

It was up to the recruits to decide whether surprise or fear was on their face. The researchers were interested in seeing if the participant’s ability to recognize sounds was altered in any way by inhaling or exhaling through the nose as opposed to the mouth. They found that participants could identify a scared face a tiny bit earlier when breathing in through their noses.

So how can you benefit from this knowledge? When anxious or afraid, breathing through the nose may help the brain function better. This can improve how we respond to circumstances. Deep breathing exercises can also sharpen our memory and aid in decision-making when emotions are a key factor to consider. So, if you love someone but they don’t want to get married and you do, should you stay with them? Inhale deeply through your nose as you consider it. It ought to aid in sorting things out.

In the third part of the study, 42 recruits were instructed to remember objects that were displayed on a computer screen. They were currently connected to a breath analyser. Participants were subsequently questioned about their memories. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate memory, specifically how breathing impacted the hippocampus. When they first saw the objects, those who inhaled tended to remember them more clearly than those who exhaled. Additionally, remembering was five percent more accurate when inhaled through the nose.

The senior author of this study and professor of neurology at Northwestern is Jay Gottfried. According to Gottfried, these techniques are already an integral part of meditation and focused breathing.

But now we realize the biological basis for their effectiveness. He explained that when you inhale, you are, in a way, synchronizing brain oscillations throughout the limbic network. Even though these results are intriguing, the study only included a small number of participants. To fully understand the intricate relationships between breathing and brain activity and how one influences the other, a much larger study is required.