Summary of Huberman Lab Podcast Episode: Breathing for Mental & Physical Health: Dr. Jack Feldman | Huberman Lab
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Breathing for Mental & Physical Health: Dr. Jack Feldman | Huberman Lab
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Key Takeaways
- The brain utilizes about 20% of all the oxygen we take in and needs it continuously
- There’s bidirectionality to breathing and state: emotional state influence breathing and breathing influences emotional state
- The most unique thing about breathing is that you can consciously change your breathing and change your signal and internal state
- To increase heart rate, inhale longer than exhale; to slow heart rate, exhale longer than inhale
- Fastest method to calm down in real time, try the physiological sigh: two inhales through the nose followed by an extended exhale through the mouth, repeat 5 minutes
- Performance after lunch tends to fall off – try box before starting work again: 5 second inhale, 5 second hold, 5 second exhale, 5 second hold x 5-10 minutes
- It might be that the specific pattern of breathwork one does is not as important as the transition between states of deliberate breathwork
Introduction
- Dr. Jack Feldman (@prebotzinger) is a distinguished professor at UCLA and world expert in the science of breathing. He is credited with groundbreaking discoveries in identifying the particular areas of the brain involved in breathing.
- Andrew Huberman and Dr. Jack Feldman discuss how and why humans breathe the way we do, the anatomy and physiology behind breathing, the influence of breathing on the brain & body, and specific protocols to train breathing for various outcomes.
- Host: Andrew Huberman (@hubermanlab)
Brain Centers Involved In Breathing
- Breathing allows us to take in oxygen for body metabolic function and remove the carbon dioxide we produce
- When you inhale, you contract the diaphragm and pull it down which expands the lungs
- The diaphragm is extremely efficient at working with the lungs and passing air
- At rest, exhaling is passive
- Neurons in the spinal cord & brain stem go to respiratory muscles in diaphragm and rib cage and contract
- preBötzinger Complex (discovered by Dr. Feldman): every breath begins with activation of neurons in this region which connect to motor neurons in intercostals and diaphragm
- At rest you can maintain nasal breathing because the amount of air needed it manageable through these smaller pathways
- Retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN); (discovered by Dr. Feldman): cluster of neurons essential in chemoreception, how organisms respond to chemical stimuli
Sighing
- By default, we are diaphragmatic breathers – particularly when you need to increase ventilation
- We sigh about every 5 minutes because you need a big pressure to pop the lungs open
- Consequence to state of mind & biology in the absence of sighs: breathing is impaired, carbon dioxide builds, stress increases, lung function deteriorates (as shown in lab rats)
- You’ll notice that during stress you sigh more because your body is trying to relax
- Physiologic sigh: double inhale through nose followed by long exhale through mouth
- If you suppress the ability to gasp, you can’t reignite breathing
- Patients with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions have a loss of neurons in thepreBötzinger Complex – they often have breathing disturbances in sleep (not wakefulness) and can’t resuscitate
States Modulated By Breathing
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Breathing affects emotional and cognitive states
- Olfaction: inhaling and exhaling creates signals from nasal mucosa, riding on a respiratory-related oscillation
- Vagus nerve: receives signals from many places – lungs, gut, etc. – so there’s a huge respiratory oscillation signal from vagus nerve
- There’s an emotive control over breathing as well – breathing changes when we laugh
- In apnea, carbon dioxide levels are going from low to high and has a profound influence on breathing and cognition
- Controlled episodic hypoxia AKA Wim Hoff breathing can increase mental focus and cognition (short bursts of fast inhales and exhales for one minute, then hold breath about 15 seconds & repeat 5 minutes)
- There are anecdotal reports of the effectiveness of breathing on one side of the nose versus the other – in other words, closing one side of the nose and breathing
- Fear response & reaction time change in coordination with respiratory cycle
- Different breathing practices could be affecting the outcome through different pathways
Various Breathing Practices Covered In This & Other Episodes
- Tummo or Wim Hof style breathing: this is basically rapid, deliberate hyperventilation – this will make you feel alert and liberate adrenaline
- Fastest method to calm down in real time: physiological sigh: two inhales through the nose followed by an extended exhale through the mouth, repeat 5 minutes
- To increase heart rate – inhale longer and/or more vigorous than exhale
- To slow heart rate down – exhale longer and/or more vigorous than inhale
- Cyclic hyperventilation: deep inhale through nose immediately following by deep exhale through mouth x 25-30 then fully exhaling until lungs are empty and repeating – cycle for 5 minutes
- Supplement that has shown enhancement in sleep and cognition: mangesium threonate at 200-400mg 2-3 hours before sleep