Dr. Jack Feldman: Breathing for Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Episode 54

Huberman Lab

Podcast Notes The brain utilizes about 20% of all the oxygen we take in and needs it continuouslyThere’s bidirectionality to breathing and state: emotional state influence breathing and breathing influences emotional stateThe most unique thing about breathing is that you can consciously change your breathing and change your signal and internal stateTo increase heart rate, inhale longer than exhale; to slow heart rate, exhale longer than inhaleFastest method to calm down in real time, try the physiological sigh: two inhales through the nose followed by an extended exhale through the mouth, repeat 5 minutesPerformance after lunch tends to fall off – try box before starting work again: 5 second inhale, 5 second hold, 5 second exhale, 5 second hold x 5-10 minutesIt might be that the specific pattern of breathwork one does is not as important as the transition between states of deliberate breathwork

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This episode my guest is Dr. Jack Feldman, Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at University of California, Los Angeles and a pioneering world expert in the science of respiration (breathing). We discuss how and why humans breathe the way we do, the function of the diaphragm and how it serves to increase oxygenation of the brain and body. We discuss how breathing influences mental state, fear, memory, reaction time, and more. And we discuss specific breathing protocols such as box-breathing, cyclic hyperventilation (similar to Wim Hof breathing), nasal versus mouth breathing, unilateral breathing, and how these each effect the brain and body. We discuss physiological sighs, peptides expressed by specific neurons controlling breathing, and magnesium compounds that can improve cognitive ability and how they work. This conversation serves as a sort of "Master Class" on the science of breathing and breathing related tools for health and performance.

 

Thank you to our sponsors:

Thesis - https://takethesis.com/huberman  Athletic Greens - https://www.athleticgreens.com/huberman  Headspace - https://www.headspace.com/specialoffer 

 

Our Breath Collective:

https://www.ourbreathcollective.com/huberman 

 

Dr. Jack Feldman Links:

UCLA website - https://bioscience.ucla.edu/people/jack-feldman Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Feldman Twitter - https://twitter.com/prebotzinger Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jacklfeldman 

 

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introducing Dr. Jack Feldman 00:03:05 Sponsors: Thesis, Athletic Greens, Headspace, Our Breath Collective 00:10:35 Why We Breathe  00:14:35 Neural Control of Breathing: “Pre-Botzinger Complex” 00:16:20 Nose vs Mouth Breathing 00:18:18 Skeletal vs. Smooth Muscles: Diaphragm, Intracostals & Airway Muscles 00:20:11 Two Breathing Oscillators: Pre-Botzinger Complex & Parafacial Nucleus 00:26:20 How We Breathe Is Special (Compared to Non-Mammals) 00:33:40 Stomach & Chest Movements During Breathing 00:36:23 Physiological Sighs, Alveoli Re-Filling, Bombesin 00:49:39 If We Don’t Sigh, Our Lung (& General) Health Suffers 01:00:42 Breathing, Brain States & Emotions  01:05:34 Meditating Mice, Eliminating Fear  01:11:00 Brain States, Amygdala, Locked-In Syndrome, Laughing 01:16:25 Facial Expressions 01:19:00 Locus Coeruleus & Alertness 01:29:40 Breath Holds, Apnea, Episodic Hypoxia, Hypercapnia 01:35:22 Stroke, Muscle Strength, TBI 01:38:08 Cyclic Hyperventilation 01:39:50 Hyperbaric Chambers 01:40:41 Nasal Breathing, Memory, Right vs. Left Nostril 01:44:50 Breathing Coordinates Everything: Reaction Time, Fear, etc. 01:57:13 Dr. Feldman’s Breathwork Protocols, Post-Lunch  02:02:05 Deliberately Variable Breathwork: The Feldman Protocol 02:06:29 Magnesium Threonate & Cognition & Memory  02:18:27 Gratitude for Dr. Feldman’s Highly Impactful Work 02:20:53 Zero-Cost Support, Sponsors, Patreon, Instagram, Twitter, Thorne

Please note that The Huberman Lab Podcast is distinct from Dr. Huberman's teaching and research roles at Stanford University School of Medicine. The information provided in this show is not medical advice, nor should it be taken or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The Huberman Lab Podcast, its employees, guests and affiliates assume no liability for the application of the information discussed.

 

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac - https://www.blabacphoto.com