If you want to improve your memory you should work 0n breathing, science says so

It is a vital process that we carry out about 500 million times throughout our lives and that, despite this, we do not do correctly.

We breathe around 23,000 times a day, and it is that simple gesture of inhaling and exhaling that oxygenates our entire body. Breathing is an unconscious and involuntary act capable of keeping us alive and, despite being the first and last thing we do when we enter the world, it seems that we do not do it completely well.

The consequences are memory problems, mental and emotional health conditions, as well as an increased chance of contracting neurodegenerative diseases. Science says so and scientist gives proof of it through the 12 years that he has been studying the effects of breathing on our body, on which he wrote a book. In it, he dedicates one of his chapters to talking about the relationship between breathing and the brain, an idea that until recently was considered far-fetched.

The doctor in neuroscience affirms that in the last decade this approach has taken a revolutionary turn thanks to the “neurobiological evidence of the influence that the respiratory pattern has on the neuronal dynamics of brain structures involved not only in olfactory processing, but in those areas of cognitive and emotional management”, or in other words, that breathing has the power to impact our behavior. We spoke with Dr.

As an expert in meditation and conscious breathing, he always talks about how breathing has the gift of reducing anxiety and connecting us with the present. “It is an essential instrument to reach a parasympathetic state, that is, a state of relaxation.” He remembers that life provides us with simple elements within our reach to maintain health and breathing is one of them.

The doctor mentions that most of the diseases that are diagnosed are in a context of chronic stress, and in this sense, conscious breathing has a great power to center us and integrate the challenges that are presented to us. “We live without being aware that breathing is our first and essential source of life. We can go days without eating and even without drinking, but we cannot go a few minutes without breathing. There is a lot of ignorance about the great benefits and wonderful regenerative process that full and conscious breathing produces in our physical, emotional and mental body.”

How to breathe to improve memory?

Refers to the study that the University of Chicago carried out in 2016, in which it was shown that those who breathe through the nose have a greater memory capacity, something on which method was: “When we breathe slowly, memory improves.” , because the hippocampus, a fundamental structure for memory, is stimulated through the olfactory bulb.”

“We are not aware that breathing is our first and essential source of life. We can go days without eating or drinking, but not a few minutes without breathing”

Doctor explains that the hippocampus is a brain structure of great plasticity, which is why it is key to learning: There can be no learning without memory, nor memory without attention. The hippocampus fuses learning, attention and memory in its architecture,” and adds that, although the influence of breathing on the brain is clear, its response is not always optimal, since it will depend on the way in which let us do it.

Here the expert invites us to breathe consciously, that is, observing, focusing our attention on breathing, “as if we could take our mind to the lungs and observe the beauty of the phases that constitute a complete breath: inspiration, inspiratory pause , expiration and expiratory pause”.

Another study – this one published in 2014 – refers to the dependence between breathing and the capacity of elements that we can memorize, concluding that when breathing is modulated in response to an event, we remember more than those whose Breathing does not respond to stimuli, which have a greater tendency to forget or disconnect. So, in addition to improving overall mental health, mindful breadthing will also improve your ability to learn and remember things.

What is cellular respiration and what is it for?

Doctors and experts also emphasizes the importance of cellular respiration, referring to “the set of complex metabolic reactions that occur in the cell, to obtain the necessary energy that will allow our body to be functional.”

Clarifies that for this to be carried out, correct macro- and micronutrition, adequate cellular health, and oxygen are necessary, when it comes to aerobic respiration; “There is anaerobic respiration, which takes place without the presence of oxygen, used only to generate energy quickly in the initial phases of exercise.”

The benefits of this type of cellular respiration is that “we will have the energy necessary to respond to daily challenges, in addition to being able to prevent all chronic degenerative pathologies.”

Finally, he recommends that, if a person does not find sufficient motivation to put
into practice what they already know, that is, improving nutrition, breathing consciously and introducing regular physical exercise, that they ask for help, and emphasizes that working in a group It’s easier than doing it alone.