The Science of Breathing
Our life depends on our breathing. Deep breathing ensures the flow of prana in our body and keeps us active, bright, and enthusiastic. The neurons responsible for maintaining the body and mind quiet and peaceful are stimulated by deep breathing. The ancient practice of pranayama also uses controlled breathing to pacify the nerves and bring peace.
It is very recently that scientific research has established that deep breathing is good for physical and mental health. Breathing is the most essential and flexible function for the body. We cannot control the rate at which our heart beats, but the pace of breathing can easily be regulated. We can deliberately change our breath, for example, by stopping it for a few seconds or by sighing or by gasping. At the cellular level, the knowledge of how body and mind control breathing or how breathing controls body and mind has been elusive so far.
Discovery of the Breathing Pacemaker
About 25 years ago, Dr. Jack Feldman, a neurobiologist at UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), and his team discovered a cluster of a few thousand cells in the brainstem known as the preBötzinger Complex or preBötC. Those neurons seemed to be controlling most of the aspects of breathing. Dr. Feldman named them 'Breathing Pacemaker.' The following years did not see much effort in finding out how these neurons functioned. But recently, universities of Stanford, California, and others have begun to employ the newer technologies in researching the neurons associated with breathing.
The scientists have finally identified 65 different kinds of neurons with distinct molecular signatures. Each of the 65 neurons has the responsibility of regulating a particular aspect of breathing. Scientists have proved this in a notable study that has been published in Nature magazine. As a part of this study, scientists developed a kind of breathing pacemaker in the mice. When a virus was injected that specifically killed those pacemaker cells, mice could no longer take deep breaths. Just like human beings, mice also take deep breaths every few minutes. When the breathing pacemaker's signals were no longer sent out to the spinal cord and the brain, the mice did not take deep breaths.
The Breathing–Brain Connection
This study is undoubtedly a milestone in the research about breathing. Still, at the same time, it has given rise to new questions about the abilities of the pacemaker and the other neurons. In a recent study published in Science magazine, the researchers purposefully disabled a different kind of neuron related to breathing in the mice. Because of this, there was no change observed initially — they continued to breathe deeply like ever before. But when they were placed in a different atmosphere, which was very stuffy and warranted deep breaths, the mice remained peaceful with no effort to breathe quickly.
Why did this happen? Researchers found out that this specific neuron is directly connected to the excitation center of the brain — the center that communicates by giving signals to other parts of the brain to awaken us, alert us, or even to tell us to worry or be restless.
Those mice in which scientists had disabled the neuron, the corresponding portion of the brain remained silent and unstimulated. Researchers believe that the disabled neurons, when functioning normally, respond to the activities of the pacemaker cluster of neurons and initiate the actions corresponding to deep breathing or sniffing. After this, the neurons alert the brain, indicating that something worrisome is happening in the mice. Since the mice are breathing quickly, the brain needs those neurons to activate its 'worry' center. So, in this sequence, after a few quick breaths, there comes a state when mice get worried, and this triggers a fast feedback loop causing the mice to breathe faster and get even more worried.
Since these neurons were disabled in the mice, they remained peaceful even under stuffy conditions. In a nutshell, whenever we inhale deeply, the neurons connecting to the excitation center of the brain do not get activated, and thus we remain calm. Scientific research has not yet reached a level where they have completed their study and understood the functionality of all the neurons in the pacemaker, but this experiment tells us that the mind gets relaxed with pranayama.
Ancient Wisdom Confirmed
The studies till now have been done on only mice and not on humans. But the breathing pacemaker in mice and humans are quite similar. This might be the beginning of the research, but it nevertheless has helped establish the truth of the efficacy of our age-old methods. Our mothers were always right. Whenever they saw us worried or stressed out, they would ask us to pause and take a few deep breaths. This would immediately calm us down. Hence it is imperative that we take deep breaths and choose suitable pranayama and practice it regularly. There are innumerable benefits of pranayama, and regular practice will ensure that we are healthy and happy.
It is a common belief that we breathe with our lungs alone, but actually, the work of breathing is done by the whole body... We live in an ocean of air like fish in a body of water. By our breathing, we are attuned to our atmosphere. — Alexander Lowen
Man's mental power, happiness, self-control, clear-sightedness, morals, and even his spiritual growth may be increased by an understanding of the "Science of Breath." — Yogi Ramacharaka
The exercise of the external muscles is not everything. The internal organs also need exercise, and Nature's plan for this exercise is proper breathing. — William Walker Atkinson