Breathing Through the Nose Improves Some Memory Functions

Let's start with something obvious: we can breathe through either the nose or the mouth. The air that goes into our lungs is the same both ways, but there are vastly different effects on our nervous system and---according to new science---our brain. A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that "memory significantly increased during nasal respiration compared to mouth respiration."

Breathing through the nose stimulates the olfactory nerve at the top of the nasal cavity (pictured right top). This nerve is linked directly to the brain. When processing smell, signals go through a specific smell-processing area called the piriform cortex on their way to the hippocampus (pictured right bottom), the place for memory formation and consolidation.

The study tested recall of a number of smells. The smells were given, then the participants "rested" while breathing through either their nose or mouth. During this time, the brain "consolidates" the smells into memory. Then their memory of the smells was tested, quizzing their "recognition".

It was found that "breathing through the nose compared to the mouth during consolidation enhances recognition memory."

The facilitators of the study were quick to qualify that this doesn't necessarily mean that breathing through the nose improves all memory or even all phases of the memory cycle. Through this experiment it only demonstrated that nose breathing improved the consolidation phase when remembering smell-related information.​

The olfactory nerve

But they also stated that "core cognitive functions are modulated by the respiratory cycle." Which means that our brain is hugely impacted by how we breathe. 

​Anyone who has practiced pranayama, which involves a lot of nasal breathing, has probably experienced its effects on the memory. It is almost ubiquitous that breathing practices bring up old memories and stimulate dreams of the past.

Keep your eyes, ears and nose open for more news about this exciting branch of neuroscience! There are sure to be more developments as we understand the brain better.