Breathing air improves brain performance

The scientists believe that the research in the field may make it possible to develop better learning strategies, and even help children and adults suffering from ADHD by influencing the nature and rate of their breathing

A shot of espresso, a cube of dark chocolate or a headstand - there are many tips given to people who want to sharpen their thinking before a fateful test. From a new study by Weizmann Institute of Science scientistsRecently published in the scientific journal Nature human behavior It turns out that perhaps a particularly good tip is to simply take a breath. The researchers from the laboratory of Prof.Noam suffers from the Department of Neurobiology, discovered that the success rate of examinees who solved questions while inhaling was higher than the success rate of those examinees while exhaling. These findings shed new light on the evolutionary role of olfaction and epigastric respiration in brain development in mammals.

"The ability of a living creature to feel what is happening around it and react to it is very primitive. Even life forms that lack a brain and a central nervous system, such as plants, bacteria or jellyfish, 'smell', in the sense that they can react to molecules in their environment in what is commonly called 'chemical perception,'" says Dr. Ofer Perel, who at the time was a research student in Prof. Suffering "However, the sense of smell as we know it, which involves the rhythmic intake of air through the nose, begins in mammals. All terrestrial mammals sniff their surroundings by inhaling air through their noses." Since the sense of smell is known to be the earliest sense in mammals, it is commonly thought that it forms a template for all brain development. In other words, every sense that "joined" it during evolution rests to a large extent on the same initial template, according to which the brain prepares itself to input information and process it in synchronization with the inhalation of air.

Previous studies, from the 40s onwards, did show that the areas of the brain related to the olfactory system, including areas related to creating memories and retrieving them (the "madeleine cookie effect") are affected by our breathing cycle. The starting point for the current study is the hypothesis of the researchers that even higher cognitive functions that are not at all related to the olfactory system developed on the basis of the same initial pattern of the primitive sense. "In the sense of smell of mammals, inhalation and information processing are connected by a cable that cannot be untied", explains Prof. Sobel. "Our hypothesis was that maybe not only the olfactory system, maybe the whole brain goes into alertness for processing information during inhalation - even when it comes to functions that are not at all related to smell. A kind of sniffing brain".

To put their hypothesis to the test, the researchers first conducted an experiment in which the air flow in the noses of subjects was measured while they were solving different types of exercises: solving math exercises, a visual-spatial task in which they were asked to determine whether a certain shape could exist in reality, and a language task in which they were required to determine whether the presented word meaningful to them. The subjects were asked to press a button as soon as they were ready for the next exercise - and to press again to answer. The researchers discovered that the subjects tended to take air into their bodies in time with their readiness to tackle the next task. It is important to note that the researchers recorded that the subjects were not aware that their breathing was being monitored and that their tendency to inhale air was not affected by the mere act of pressing the button - but rather testified to their mental readiness to face the next challenge.

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers presented the subjects with only the visual-spatial tasks and timed the questions so that half of them appeared during inhalation and half - during exhalation. The subjects' success rates were clearly and significantly improved when they solved the question while breathing. Moreover, the researchers also measured with an EEG device the electrical activity in the subjects' brains while resting and while solving the tasks. The researchers discovered that the "connectivity" between the different areas of the brain was distinctly different between inhalation and exhalation - both at rest and when solving the task. Moreover, the greater the gap in connectivity between inhaling and exhaling was - the greater was the success in solving the inhaling tasks. "It is important to clarify that this has nothing to do with oxygen entering the body through inhalation. The effect we see on the brain is immediate - a matter of about 200 milliseconds. This is not a time frame that affects the oxygen levels in the brain", says Prof. Sobel. "We showed that not only the olfactory system but the entire brain works differently when inhaling versus exhaling. You can almost say that the brain works better when inhaling."

think from the nose

When we have a cold and a stuffy nose, it seems that our thinking is not sharp enough either. Sometimes they even call a person "obscure" as evidence of his little understanding. Although the connection between breathing and different states of consciousness has been known for hundreds of years in Buddhism and yoga and is even embodied in different languages ​​(from far-reaching "aspirations" in Hebrew to inspiring "inspirations" in English), the research findings provide empirical support for the cultural identification of bringing air into the body with a pointed and ambitious thought . Over the years, Prof. Sobel's laboratory has specialized in the study of the sense of smell. The current research largely diverts the research direction of the laboratory towards the study of epic respiration. The scientists believe that the research in the field may make it possible to develop better learning strategies, and even help children and adults who suffer from attention and concentration disorders by influencing the nature and rate of their breathing.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• And this perfume didn't come...
• Are those on the autism spectrum able to distinguish unpleasant smells?
• Neuroscience - the limits of reason / Douglas Fox