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Strange connection between breathing and memory recall.

Journal of Neuroscience How we breath, inhale/exhale, ties together memory recall.

Press release: https://www.lmu.de/en/about-lmu/structure/central-university-administration/media-relations-and-communications/press-room/press-release/memory-research-how-respiration-shapes-remembering-fd0c5cd7.html from the JN abstract: [snip] Recent evidence suggests that respiration may shape neural dynamics underlying various cognitive processes. In this study, we identify respiration as a potential pacemaker for memory retrieval by showing that key neural signatures of effective remembering—namely, decreases in ⍺/β power and the reactivation of previously encoded neural representations—are tightly synchronized with the respiratory cycle. Notably, the strength of this respiration-brain coupling is associated with individual memory performance, underscoring the critical role and functional significance of brain–body interactions in supporting cognitive functions.
posted by aleph on Dec 07, 2025 at 7:18 AM

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First comment where I saw this was: "So does that means Yogic breathing exercises work?"
posted by aleph at 7:47 AM

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Flagged for mods to fix, so should get sorted out soon, but reminder that urls aren't automatically turned into links, but can easily be made linkable (thus contributing to site accessibility) by using the "link" button in the quick-access edit buttons immediately below the text (post or comment) input window. (The link button is the one on the far right of the row of buttons just under the comment box.) Linking urls properly ourselves saves mod time for actual site moderation, too!
posted by eviemath at 7:47 AM

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Good tip for my finals this week, I guess. Just breathe!
posted by lianove3 at 8:02 AM

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Not being able to breathe does tend to occupy the mind...
posted by jim in austin at 8:22 AM

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press release link
posted by zippy at 9:12 AM

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I do a lot of hiking and daily walking for my mental health. The synchronization of steps and breathing eases my bipolar mind.
posted by waving at 9:31 AM

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Fascinating! So breathing functions sort of like a click track. That feels like it meshes well with what I vaguely remember from my intro to cognitive psychology course.
posted by Deminime at 9:57 AM

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I thought that the theory of Box Breathing was based on the idea of breathing in being linked to the sympathetic nervous system and breathing out being linked to the parasympathetic - so you relax best when you don't take in a big gulp of air suddenly - triggering the sympathetic systems wake up/stress cues - but rather inhale gradually for a count of 5. And you exhale for a longer count of 6 so that you calm down. I guess, if this is the case, that a link with memory: inspiration is for inspiration and exhalation is for "rest and digest".
posted by rongorongo at 11:06 AM

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Thanks eviemath. Request made.
posted by aleph at 11:25 AM

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I use breathing for a few things I do. It seems to "work(?)". Not willing to blather more about it.
posted by aleph at 11:28 AM

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I look forward to seeing this study replicated with N > 18.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:06 PM

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So mindfulness of breathing isn't just a relaxation exercise.

Which comes as no surprise to people who've tried it.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 3:43 PM

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I look forward to seeing this study replicated with N > 18.

This. This is not a study, it's a bunch of anecdotes glued together with some words.
posted by storybored at 4:37 PM

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"So mindfulness of breathing isn't just a relaxation exercise."

Too early to say anything like that. This is just (maybe) an oddity that needs further exploration.
posted by aleph at 6:44 PM

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So breathing functions sort of like a click track

More like a groove, I'd have thought. If there's anything like a discernible click track, I imagine it's more of an emergent consensus across multiple subsystems than a driver of any of them. I would expect any feedbacks involved to be at least partly chemical and reflective of instantaneous blood oxygen (perhaps and/or CO₂) concentration, which every brain process everywhere is going to have some effect on.
posted by flabdablet at 1:56 AM

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We're just barely nibbling on basic mechanisms. Seems ambitious to think we're going to figure out interaction dynamics of several together.

The 3 (or more) body problem of really different system(s).
posted by aleph at 11:20 AM

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