THE SCIENCE OF INTENTIONAL BREATH FOR BODY, HEART AND MIND
People learn differently, it’s true. The essence of our breathing and meditation class is to help clients tap back into something each of us already instinctually knows. It’s something we were born with.
Did you know that breathing is how you nourish your brain, muscles and every cell in your body? Most of us are NOT breathing properly, or fully. Intentional Breathing deep belly breaths can lower your stress immediately. It's that simple. Studies have shown that as little as ten minutes a day of diaphragmatic breathing can improve attention, reduce stress and aid in better sleep.
With stresses of work and daily life, we often find ourselves faced with “fight or flight” situations. This happens far more often that we realize. Understanding this and taking control is where the true benefit of our breathing meditation classes become clear.
Intentional breathing enables you to take control of your breathing, and in turn, your body and mind. It is a tool you can take with you anywhere, and use any time you need it.
Our intentional breathing and meditation classes are backed by remarkable scientific evidence.
Medical Press, June 2023
Study Provides Evidence that Breathing Exercise May Reduce Alzheimer’s Risk
In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, researchers investigated the possibility of preventing Alzheimer’s disease through a simple breathing exercise. The results were remarkable and promising.
Breathing exercises have long been used as a relaxation technique, and their benefits are well-documented. But this is the first study to show that breathing exercises can have a direct effect on the level of amyloid beta peptides in the blood.
Amyloid beta peptides are protein fragments that can clump together and form sticky plaques in the brain. The accumulation of these plaques is a hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of amyloid beta peptides in the blood has been associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, which was done at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, researched individuals who practiced slow breathing twice a day for 20 minutes over a 4-week period. The result was reduced Alzheimer’s-related amyloid proteins in the blood. Another group did not do the breathing exercises and it resulted in an increase of amyloid beta peptides.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Helen Lavretsky, said, “Our findings suggest that potentially improving respiratory regulation may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease in older adults. The findings also demonstrate that there are things that we can do to potentially reduce our risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
While this study is a promising step forward, more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between slow breathing, HRV biofeedback training, and the level of amyloid beta peptides in the blood. However, the fact that a simple behavioral intervention can have such a significant effect on this biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease is encouraging. It suggests that there may be simple steps we can take to reduce our risk of developing this devastating condition.
The Washington Post, March 2023
5-minute Breathing Exercises Can Improve Your Mood and Reduce Anxiety
Most of us don’t think about our breathing, but if we put our minds to it, it can make us feel better. “Respiration is the perfect interaction between conscious and unconscious,” said Angelo Gemignani, psychiatrist and neuroscience professor at the University of Pisa. Breathing is a way for both the mind and body to work together to help regulate our emotions. A study in Cell Reports Medicine showed that just five minutes of breathwork each day for about a month could improve mood and reduce anxiety — and these benefits may be larger than from mindfulness meditation for the same amount of time.
“We’re always busy doing instead of being,” said David Spiegel, an author of the study. “And it’s a good idea to just take a few minutes to collect yourself, commune with your body and help it prepare to deal with whatever you want to deal with.”
In a randomized controlled study of 108 adults, the researchers compared three different breathwork exercises, in which participants deliberately guided their breathing in various ways, and mindfulness meditation, in which people observed their breathing but didn’t try to control it.
The participants did the breathwork at home, following video instructions. One group of participants was told to practice cyclic sighing. Participants were instructed to slowly inhale through the nose to expand the lungs, and inhale again to maximally fill the lungs.
Then they were asked to slowly and fully exhale the breath through the mouth. A second group focused on box breathing, which is spending the same amount of time slowly inhaling, holding the breath, exhaling and holding, before repeating the sequence.
A third group practiced cyclic hyperventilation, which “emphasizes inhalation rather than exhalation. It’s kind of the mirror image of the cyclic sighing exercise,” said Spiegel, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and director of the Center on Stress and Health at Stanford University.
They took one deep inhalation through the nose, exhaled passively and then let the air “fall out from the mouth,” he said. Every 30 cycles, they would hold the breath after passive exhalation for 15 seconds. “That’s not bad for five minutes a day,” Spiegel said. “It seems that practicing some control over your respiration is a kind of entry into one way of controlling your autonomic activity.” The positive effects of breathwork took time to kick in: The more days the participants spent doing their breathing exercises, the better they felt each successive day.
The fourth group performed mindfulness meditation, which emphasized being aware of breathing and their body — as opposed to actively controlling their breathing. After 28 days, participants in both the mindfulness meditation and breathwork groups reported having more positive feelings and fewer negative ones compared with before they began their respective practices. Participants in both groups also reported reduced feelings of anxiety.
NEUROSCIENCE NEWS, MAY 2021
A new study at Ural Federal University reports that Yoga and breathing training programs can help children with ADHD to focus their attention
Psychologists of Ural Federal University in their study have found that Yoga and breathing exercises have a positive effect on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After special sessions, the children improve their attention, decrease hyperactivity, they do not get tired soon, they can engage in complex activities longer.
The psychologists used a special breathing exercise related to the development of diaphragmatic rhythmic deep breathing and belly breathing. This helps in increased supply of oxygen to the brain and helps the reticular formation to cope better with its role. When the reticular formation receives enough oxygen, it improves the brain activity of the child. In addition to breathing exercises, psychologists used other exercises with polar states “tension-relaxation”.
NEUROLOGY, THE MEDICAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NEUROLOGY, OCTOBER 2018
Study associates stress with impaired memory and reduced brain size in middle age ~ UT Health San Antonio
“Higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, seem to predict brain function, brain size and performance on cognitive tests,” said study author Dr. Sudha Seshadri, professor of neurology at UT Health San Antonio.
“We found memory loss and brain shrinkage in relatively young people long before any symptoms could be seen,” Seshadri said. “It’s never too early to be mindful of reducing stress.”
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY, JUNE 2017
The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Stress in Healthy Adults
“A study at Beijing Normal University showed adults trained in diaphragmatic breathing for 8 weeks had significantly lower cortisol (stress) levels and significantly increased sustained attention compared to a baseline group that received no breathing sessions.”
NORTHSHORE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, LONG ISLAND, NOVEMBER 2017
Neurologists have identified exactly how a deep breath changes your brain
“The findings provide neural support for advice individuals have been given for millennia: during times of stress, or when heightened concentration is needed, focusing on one’s breathing or doing breathing exercises can indeed change the brain. This has potential application to individuals in a variety of professions that require extreme focus and agility. Athletes, for example, have long been known to utilize breathing to improve their performance. Now, this research puts science behind that practice.”
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, 2017
Study Suggests Helping Patients Prep Mind and Body for Surgery Pays Off
An inexpensive program to help surgery patients get physically and mentally ready for their upcoming operation may help reduce overall costs and get them home faster, according to new research involving hundreds of patients in 21 hospitals across Michigan.
“Prehabilitation,” as it’s called, uses the weeks before surgery to encourage patients to move more, eat healthier, cut back on tobacco, breathe deeper, reduce their stress and focus on their goals for after their operation.
In 2017, after its first test in surgery patients at the University of Michigan, the approach showed signs of reducing total medical costs related to the patient’s care, and cutting their length of stay in the hospital, compared with similar Michigan Medicine patients who had surgery before the program began.
