Breathing for Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. Jack Feldman
Dr. Jack Feldman, Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at UCLA, provides a master class on breathing science, detailing its neural control and influence on mental states, fear, and memory. He shares specific breathwork protocols and insights into magnesium's role in cognitive function.
Deep Dive Analysis
16 Topic Outline
Neural Control of Breathing: Pre-Botzinger Complex
Skeletal vs. Smooth Muscles in Respiration
Two Breathing Oscillators: Pre-Botzinger & Parafacial Nucleus
Mammalian Diaphragm and Lung Surface Area
Physiological Sighs: Function and Mechanism
Consequences of Suppressing Physiological Sighs
Breathing's Influence on Brain States and Emotions
Rodent Studies: Slow Breathing and Fear Reduction
Locked-In Syndrome and Emotive Breathing Control
Locus Coeruleus and Breathing-Related Alertness
Impact of Breath Holds, Hypoxia, and Hypercapnia
Episodic Hypoxia for Motor and Cognitive Function
Nasal Breathing, Memory, and Nostril Lateralization
Breathing Coordinates Physiological and Behavioral Functions
Dr. Feldman's Personal Breathwork Protocols
Magnesium Threonate for Cognition and Memory
6 Key Concepts
Pre-Botzinger Complex
A small region in the brainstem containing a few thousand neurons, critical for generating the rhythm of inspiration. Every breath begins with neurons in this complex becoming active, which then signal motor neurons to contract inspiratory muscles.
Parafacial Nucleus
A second, independent oscillator in the brainstem, discovered by Dr. Feldman's lab, primarily involved in generating active expiration. This region is typically silent at rest but becomes active during increased ventilation, such as during exercise, to drive expiratory muscles.
Physiological Sighs
Deep, involuntary breaths that occur approximately every five minutes in humans. Their primary function is to 'pop open' collapsed alveoli in the lungs, maintaining the lung's vast surface area for efficient oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.
Bombesin-related peptides
A class of specialized molecules released by the hypothalamus during stress. When introduced into the pre-Butzinger complex, these peptides significantly increase the rate of physiological sighing, suggesting a direct link between stress and sigh frequency.
Episodic Hypoxia
A pattern of intermittent exposure to low oxygen levels, followed by periods of normal oxygen. This pattern has been shown to induce long-lasting increases in ventilation and can lead to profound positive effects on motor and cognitive function, even hours after exposure.
Magnesium Threonate
A specific magnesium compound that is highly effective at crossing the gut-blood barrier and entering the brain. It has been shown to increase long-term potentiation (LTP) in neurons, leading to improved cognitive function and memory, particularly in individuals with mild cognitive decline.
11 Questions Answered
Humans breathe to bring oxygen into the body for metabolism and to expel carbon dioxide, which is a byproduct of metabolism and affects the blood's acid-base balance (pH).
At rest, exhalation is typically passive, occurring as the diaphragm and rib cage muscles relax. However, during increased ventilation (like exercise) or deliberate forceful exhalation, expiratory muscles are actively engaged.
The diaphragm is the principal muscle for inhalation. When it contracts, it pulls down, expanding the lungs and lowering internal pressure, allowing air to flow in.
The diaphragm's mechanical efficiency allows for the expansion of the lung's vast surface area (about 70 square meters) with minimal effort, enabling sufficient oxygen transfer from the alveoli into the bloodstream.
If physiological sighs are suppressed, alveoli in the lungs can collapse, leading to a significant deterioration of lung function and overall health. This was observed in early mechanical ventilation practices for polio victims.
Breathing can influence emotional and cognitive states through several pathways, including signals from the olfactory system, the vagus nerve, changes in carbon dioxide levels, and direct volitional commands from the motor cortex that send collateral signals to emotional processing centers.
Studies in mice have shown that a protocol involving 30 minutes of deliberately slowed breathing daily for four weeks significantly reduces their freezing response in a fear conditioning test, suggesting a reduction in fear.
Individuals with locked-in syndrome lose voluntary control over most muscles, including breathing, but retain emotional control over breathing and facial expressions. This indicates a separate, emotive pathway for breathing control that is distinct from volitional control and not disrupted by the syndrome.
During breath holds, oxygen levels drop (hypoxia) and carbon dioxide levels rise (hypercapnia). These changes can profoundly influence brain state, and deliberate breath holds are part of practices like cyclic hyperventilation.
Studies suggest that nasal breathing can improve memory, possibly by enhancing respiratory-modulated oscillations in the brain, particularly in areas like the hippocampus involved in memory encoding.
Magnesium threonate is believed to improve cognitive function by increasing magnesium levels in the brain, which reduces electrical noise in neurons and enhances long-term potentiation (LTP), a mechanism for strengthening neural connections and memory.
9 Actionable Insights
1. Daily Box Breathing Practice
Practice box breathing for 5-20 minutes daily, using a 5-second inhale, 5-second hold, 5-second exhale, 5-second hold (or 10-second intervals), to gain tremendous benefit and combat post-lunch mental lag.
2. Cyclic Hyperventilation for Alertness
Engage in cyclic hyperventilation for about a minute, then exhale and hold your breath for 15-60 seconds, repeating for about five minutes, to potentially increase alertness, reduce stress triggering, and improve cognitive focus.
3. Slow Breathing for Anxiety
If experiencing anxiety and hyperventilation, practice breathing slower to restore CO2 levels back to normal, which can provide relief from anxiety.
4. Nasal Breathe for Memory Recall
When learning new information, practice nasal breathing rather than mouth breathing, as studies suggest it can lead to better memory encoding and recall.
5. Magnesium Threonate for Cognition & Sleep
Consider supplementing with magnesium threonate, which effectively crosses the gut-blood barrier, to potentially improve cognitive function, slow cognitive decline, and enhance sleep quality. Start with a half dose to assess tolerance and blood magnesium levels.
6. Restore Energy with NSDR
Utilize Yoga Nidra or Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) protocols, even for a short 10-minute session, to greatly restore levels of cognitive and physical energy.
7. Morning & Exercise Electrolytes
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise to ensure adequate hydration and electrolytes for optimal brain and body function.
8. Supplement Vitamin D3 K2
Supplement with Vitamin D3 and K2, as D3 is essential for brain and body health (many are deficient), and K2 regulates cardiovascular function and calcium in the body.
9. Explore Expert Breathwork Training
Consider joining Our Breathwork Collective to learn or teach breathwork, as it offers daily live guided sessions, an on-demand library, and free workshops developed by experts like Dr. Feldman.
5 Key Quotes
My mice don't believe in the placebo effect. And so if we could show there's a bona fide effect in mice, it is convincing in ways that no matter how many human experiments you did, the control for the placebo effect is extremely difficult in humans. In mice, it's a non-issue.
Dr. Jack Feldman
I think that the individuals who are able to do that, have some connection to the parts of their emotive control system that the rest of us don't have. Maybe they develop it through training and maybe not, but I think that this can be imaged.
Dr. Jack Feldman
The brain utilizes maybe 20% of all the oxygen that we intake and it needs it continuously. You can't, the brain doesn't want to be neglected.
Dr. Jack Feldman
Breathing has been, the change in breathing has been described as trying to build an airplane while it's flying.
Dr. Jack Feldman
I mean, one of the nice things about some experiments that we try to design is to fail quickly.
Dr. Jack Feldman
2 Protocols
Dr. Feldman's Post-Lunch Box Breathing Protocol
Dr. Jack Feldman- Inhale for 5 seconds.
- Hold breath for 5 seconds.
- Exhale for 5 seconds.
- Hold breath for 5 seconds.
- Repeat this cycle for 5 to 10 minutes.
Deliberately Variable Breathwork (The Feldman Protocol)
Dr. Jack Feldman (concept proposed by Andrew Huberman, named by Huberman)- Perform box breathing with varying durations for inhales, holds, and exhales (e.g., 5 seconds, then 10 seconds).
- Introduce variability within the practice, potentially switching between different speeds and depths of inhales, exhales, and holds.
- The goal is to sense and understand the relationship between different breathing patterns and their effects on internal state.