{"id":1680,"date":"2026-09-01T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-09-01-individual-breaths-brain-waves-en\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:00:00","slug":"2026-09-01-individual-breaths-brain-waves-en","status":"publish","type":"briefing","link":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-09-01-individual-breaths-brain-waves-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Even the shape of a single breath was intertwined with brain waves… A more detailed connection than studies that looked only at respiratory rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-09-01 06:00 KST<\/strong><\/p>\n

When American researchers analyzed the breath of a resting person one by one, the shape of the breathing curve, which varied each time, such as the length of inhalation and the speed of exhalation, changed along with the electrical activity curves of various brain regions. This is the result of capturing the combination of breathing and the brain in more detail than simply looking at the fast or slow breathing rate per minute.<\/p>\n

This does not mean that a particular breathing technique will cure your memory, anxiety, or illness. Since this is an observational study that analyzed the resting data of epilepsy patients who had brain electrodes inserted for treatment purposes, additional experiments are needed to determine the direction of the cause and whether it appears to the same extent in the general population.<\/p>\n

What did the researchers compare?<\/h2>\n

The researchers continuously recorded airflow through the nose and mouth and represented each breath as a single wave-like curve. At the same time, electrical activity measured from electrodes in the brain was also changed to the shape of a curve. We then compared how closely the detailed bends of inhalation and exhalation and changes in brain wave amplitude resembled each breath.<\/p>\n

In which brain regions were connections seen?<\/h2>\n

Changes in line with the breathing curve were observed in several areas involved in sensation, cognition, memory, and emotional processing. The connections were not confined to one frequency band but depended on the temporal structure of individual breathing. However, because the electrode positions are determined according to the patient’s treatment needs, it is not a map that measures the entire brain uniformly.<\/p>\n

\"Even
This AI-generated image explains the topic; it is not a photograph of the actual event, observation, or experiment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why shape is more important than breathing rate<\/h2>\n

Even at the same average rate of 12 breaths per minute, one person can take short inhales and long exhales while the other person pauses in between. The average erases these differences. This analysis shows that moment-to-moment changes in breathing can be linked to temporal patterns of neural activity, suggesting more sophisticated metrics in sleep, stress, and seizure research.<\/p>\n

Cause and effect are still unclear<\/h2>\n

Because the brain controls the breathing muscles, brain activity that creates breathing and sensory signals from the lungs and nose that influence the brain can mix together. It is also possible that both processes cycle simultaneously. From this study alone, we cannot conclude that one party unilaterally changes the other.<\/p>\n

What should the next research look like?<\/h2>\n

It remains to be seen whether the same curve correspondence can be reproduced in non-invasive EEG and respiration recordings in healthy participants. Another remaining question is how the patterns differ in groups where breathing changes are significant, such as those suffering from sleep apnea, panic, or post-traumatic stress. The number of samples and electrode locations in the original paper and subsequent replication studies are the next confirmation routes.<\/p>\n

Primary sources and independent checks<\/h2>\n

Journal of Neuroscience original paper DOI<\/a><\/p>\n

UC San Diego research release<\/a><\/p>\n

Society for Neuroscience independent release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In data from patients with implanted brain electrodes, the individual patterns of inhalation and exhalation corresponded to the patterns of electrical activity in several brain regions. This is not a clinical trial that proves the therapeutic effect of breathing training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-1680","briefing","type-briefing","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing\/1680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/briefing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}