These Breathing Exercises Improve Memory and Retention

TL;DR. Deep breathing exercises are a more effective than any supplement, and cost nothing. Five techniques, from box breathing to resonance breathing, sharpen attention, calm the stress response, and may improve memory and retention. Here is how and when to use the most effective .

In a recent video I'd mentioned that I take a holistic approach to most topics. It's my default mode of thought and understanding. Associative connections through inductive reasoning. This is especially true for today's topic. Let me know in a comment if it's helpful or too "big picture" for you.

Not a figure of speech. A request: Please take a great, big, deep inhale through your nose, right now. Hold it there for a moment, then exhale through your mouth with a little sigh.

Afterward, did you notice a change, a slight relief or sense of relaxation? If not, repeat. Until you do. Because you will. As both ancient practices and modern science say our breath can strongly influence our mood state, to positive effect.[1]

We can live weeks without food. We can live days without water. We can't live more than a few minutes without breath.

And after earth's Great Oxidation Event (GOE) about 2.4B years ago, emerging living systems determined that aerobic respiration (breath) can't be left to chance. It must be automatic. A couple billion years later, hominids (us) arrived, inheriting pre-conscious, automatic respiration.

"Breath is life, life is breath" is not a metaphor. Nothing is more literal.

Anyone who has taken first aid training knows the first thing to check when you arrive at an emergency situation is the person's airway. "ABC": airway, breathing, circulation. In that order. Because without breath, the heart beats for nothing.

Biochemical "life" may begin in the womb but life as a human being, independent of a mother's womb, begins with our first breath. Only then can the umbilical cord, that had supplied us oxygen, be severed and tied off.

And at the other end, breath is typically the last autonomic function to go when our body finally expires.

I was bedside with my maternal grandmother, mother and father when each of their lives expired. After conscious awareness of self and surroundings had passed, breath continued. Natural death is defined by cessation of all vital body functions. Self-awareness is not one of them. Breath, not self-awareness, is life.

With that in mind, now, again please take a big, deep inhale through the nose, then hold it a little longer than before. Hold it and say to yourself mentally, "life is breath, breath is life". Then exhale, long... and slow....

Empty all the air out of your lungs. Hold them empty for a moment. Again, "life is breath, breath is life".

In this context, of breath equals life and life equals breath, I have to say what none of us wants to hear. What industrialized society hates most to admit. We put industrial waste into the air as if our very life, and all life, past present and future, doesn't depend on it. When we know, at least intellectually, that it does.

We're not polluting the air. We're polluting life itself.

And yes, it's a hypocritical bit of wisdom (if I may) for the motorsports enthusiast to say. I'm too aware.

Ironically, one reason I think we put so much contamination in our air is that most of us are normally barely aware we're breathing. It's effortless for most of us to take it for granted. So most of us do.

As the saying goes, if you ask a fish "How's the water?" it will answer, "What water?" Think of us as air fish.

Thankfully, becoming more aware of our breath, to give ourselves more energy, by overriding autonomic breathing with deeper, voluntary breathing exercises, is pretty easy to start. And doing so has a surprising number of cognitive performance benefits:

As some consistent readers should know I've been involved in competitive motorsports for many years, and I often coach drivers new to high performance driving on a racetrack.

I'll never forget the first time I was gridded up to go out on one of our world class racetracks in Northern California. My nerves buzzed like high voltage power lines and I asked my instructor, "should I be nervous?" "If you're not, I'm getting out of the car", he retorted in characteristic humor.

Going out on a competitive motorsports surface for the first time (or any time) is supposed to test your nerves. And all of your abilities that depend on them.

Motorsports seems to me, with admitted bias, the ideal test of integrated mind-body performance, because it requires immediate global coordination across multiple brain regions, plus extreme, full body sensory sensitivity, down to the very tips of our extremities. I.e.:

The only exception may be speech centers. Speaking seems not to interfere with any of racing's primary brain functions. Even without first-hand experience, watching Formula 1 racing provides some evidence of this.

I think it's fairly common knowledge if also easy to forget that there's an inverse, antagonistic relationship between mental stress and cognitive performance. They relate like opposite ends of a teeter-totter: if one is up, the other is down. And respiration is the fulcrum, regulating them from the center. If we learn to practice and exercise it.

All high cognitive demand, high stress, high performance activities, from public speech presentation, to stage performance arts, to flying jets, to military combat operations, and of course competitive motorsports, are greatly improved by leveraging breath to calm our nerves and transfer energy away from performance inhibiting regions to performance enabling ones.

This is why breathing exercises are fundamental and integral to my motorsports career, whether I'm driving or coaching drivers.

I don’t know why I started testing my breath holding ability as a child. Kids do a lot of weird things. At 11, I could hold my breath for two minutes with little prep or effort.

As a teenager surfing the Monterey Bay area, from Año Nuevo to Moss Landing, having to alternate between cardiorespiratory demand and long breath-holding unintentionally improved personal lung capacity diaphragm strength.

In the Navy, in my early twenties, a medic scanning my lungs during bootcamp said they’re unusually long, because they didn’t fit in the default image frame. He said he had to take two images for a complete scan.

Much later, after joining my wife in regular yoga practice, yogic breathing and diaphragm (pranayama) exercises advanced high-performance lung capacity diaphragm strength further.

Today, deep breathing exercises are crucial to my daily morning routine, 365 days a year. I exercise my lung and diaphragm capacity and strength every day for many reasons. One of which is to do things my mind resists, by lowering its defenses.

Deep breathing is voluntary, slow-paced breathing, usually under 10 breaths per minute, that overrides the body's automatic respiratory rhythm [13]. The autopilot never switches off. We just take the controls.

Five exercises dominate the research and the practice: diaphragmatic (belly) breathing, box breathing, 4-7-8 breathing, cyclic sighing, and resonance breathing, also called coherent breathing. Different cadences, one shared lever: the pace and depth of every breath, and each pattern pulls physiology in a measurably different direction [14].

All five are free, portable, and available mid-meeting, on the grid, or at 3 a.m. The fulcrum from the essay is standard equipment.

Breath control as a deliberate health and mood management practice is easily traced back 2,500 years. Pranayama, yoga's breath discipline, appears in the Upanishads between roughly 800 and 500 BCE, and was later systematized in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

Fast forward to 20th century: Ukrainian physician Konstantin Buteyko built his reduced-breathing method in the 1950s on the idea that we chronically over-breathe.

Box breathing is really yogic sama vritti breathing rebranded for soldiers who can’t been seen doing yoga. Navy SEAL commander Mark Divine popularized it in the 2010s as combat-grade stress control, because it works.

Cyclic sighing is the latest trend following a 2023 Stanford study [1] that’s been hyped and propagated since by major YouTube health influencers (intentionally unnamed here but see my fav YT channel’s video naming them).

Slow, deep breaths stimulate stretch receptors in the lungs and pressure receptors in the arteries. Both report to the brainstem, and the brainstem answers by raising parasympathetic output through the vagus nerve [16]. Heart rate variability climbs. The stress response stands down.

Cadence matters. At six breaths per minute, blood pressure, and heart rhythm align. A “resonance” that maximizes vagas nerve-mediated heart rate variability [15]. EEG studies show rising alpha brain wave signal, the signature of relaxed alertness [5].

Taking a balanced approach to evidence means acknowledging here that the mechanistic evidence comes mainly from physiology trials, measuring downstream results in mood, cognitive test scores and heart rate variability (HRV). More than the physiological mechanisms themselves [5].

The memory enhancement claim underpinning up this week’s topic is easily defended.

Slow yoga breathing improved working memory speed and accuracy under mental load [7]. In older adults, deep slow breathing paired with training improved retention of newly learned cognitive skills [12]. Four weeks of mindfulness breathing raised cognitive flexibility, the switching skill behind everything we call multitasking [8].

One randomized trial of resonance-frequency breathing in stressed adults found no cognitive gains across memory, processing speed, or flexibility [17]. Attention and mood effects stand on firmer ground than memory effects.

Where benefits do appear, they arrive fast and cheap. Five minutes a day moved mood and physiology within a month in the Stanford trial, and outperformed an equal dose of mindfulness meditation [1].

Slow-cadence breathing, to first simply override autonomic breath with conscious, voluntary respiration control, is the most benign, beginner technique. It provides most benefit with the least effort. And requires no preparation. Do it anytime, anywhere.

A meta-analysis covering 223 studies expected few adverse effects [3], and a systematic review of breathing exercises for anxiety and stress reported none [20].

The potential for negative outcomes is with hyperventilation patterns [19], and rapid, high-ventilation breathwork. Dizziness and faltering consciousness - passing out - should never be disregarded [21].

Never hyperventilate, then breath-hold, in water. [22].

Sorry but a little disclaimer is in order here: If you live with a cardiovascular, respiratory, or panic condition, or you are pregnant, start with the gentle slow styles and clear the intense ones with your physician.

Next week: Sleep and recovery for optimal performance in high-stakes conditions.

Sunday inspo: Don’t let breath fall asleep. Breath every breath consciously, like your life depends on it, to re-mindful ourself that it very literally does.

Until next time, eat fresh foods and stay active Beautiful Self-aware Brain!
🫶🏽

[1] Balban, M. Y., Neri, E., Kogon, M. M., Weed, L., Nouriani, B., Jo, B., Holl, G., Zeitzer, J. M., Spiegel, D., & Huberman, A. D. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895

[2] Ma, X., Yue, Z., Gong, Z.-Q., Zhang, H., Duan, N., Shi, Y., Wei, G.-X., & Li, Y.-F. (2017). The effect of diaphragmatic breathing on attention, negative affect and stress in healthy adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874

[3] Laborde, S., Allen, M., Borges, U., Dosseville, F., Hosang, T., Iskra, M., Mosley, E., Salvotti, C., Spolverato, L., Zammit, N., & Javelle, F. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104711

[4] Gerritsen, R. J. S., & Band, G. (2018). Breath of life: The respiratory vagal stimulation model of contemplative activity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00397

[5] Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353

[6] Shao, R., Man, I. S. C., & Lee, T. M. C. (2024). The effect of slow-paced breathing on cardiovascular and emotion functions: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02294-2

[7] Deepeshwar, S., & Budhi, R. B. (2022). Slow yoga breathing improves mental load in working memory performance and cardiac activity among yoga practitioners. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.968858

[8] Hooi, L., Chen, P., Tan, K. W., De Vries, M., & Wong, H. K. (2025). Effects of mindfulness breathing meditation on stress and cognitive functions: A heart rate variability and eye-tracking study. Scientific Reports, 15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23727-z

[9] Masmoudi, K., Chaari, F., Waer, F. B., Rebai, H., & Sahli, S. (2024). A single session of slow-paced breathing improved cognitive functions and postural control among middle-aged women: A randomized single blinded controlled trial. Menopause, 32, 158-165. https://doi.org/10.1097/gme.0000000000002470

[10] Li, X., Zhou, Y., Zhang, C., Wang, H., & Wang, X. (2024). Neural correlates of breath work, mental imagery of yoga postures, and meditation in yoga practitioners: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2024.1322071

[11] Vakhtin, A. A., Lin, H. C., Richardson, S. P. E., Shaff, N., & Ryman, S. (2025). Harnessing brain rhythms to activate the glymphatic pathway via controlled breathing and intermittent CO2. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 46, 444-455. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271678x251399120

[12] Lee, S.-H., Park, D.-S., & Song, C. (2023). The effect of deep and slow breathing on retention and cognitive function in the elderly population. Healthcare, 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11060896

[13] Russo, M. A., Santarelli, D. M., & O'Rourke, D. (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe, 13(4), 298-309. https://doi.org/10.1183/20734735.009817

[14] Gholamrezaei, A., Van Diest, I., Aziz, Q., Vlaeyen, J. W. S., & Van Oudenhove, L. (2020). Psychophysiological responses to various slow, deep breathing techniques. Psychophysiology, 58(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13712

[15] Sevoz-Couche, C., & Laborde, S. (2022). Heart rate variability and slow-paced breathing: When coherence meets resonance. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104576

[16] Noble, D. J., & Hochman, S. (2019). Hypothesis: Pulmonary afferent activity patterns during slow, deep breathing contribute to the neural induction of physiological relaxation. Frontiers in Physiology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01176

[17] Saldana, D. G., Shehab, S., & Sneed, J. (2023). The effects of mobile based resonant frequency breathing on cognitive performance in healthy young adults with elevated stress. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 29, 181-182. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355617723002837

[18] Yau, K., & Loke, A. Y. (2021). Effects of diaphragmatic deep breathing exercises on prehypertensive or hypertensive adults: A literature review. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2021.101315

[19] Mutze, C., Mitzinger, D., & Haller, H. (2025). Effectiveness of pranayama for mental disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1616996

[20] Morgan, S. P., et al. (2024). A systematic review of breathing exercise interventions: An integrative complementary approach for anxiety and stress in adult populations. Journal of Holistic Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/08980101241273860

[21] Fincham, G. W., Epel, E., Colasanti, A., Strauss, C., & Cavanagh, K. (2023). High ventilation breathwork practices: An overview of their effects, mechanisms, and considerations for clinical applications. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105453

[22] Elia, A., et al. (2024). Effects of hyperventilation on repeated breath-holding while in a fasting state: Do risks outweigh the benefits? American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00260.2023