Breathing link found in states of mind

SAN FRANCISCO - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a handful of nerve cells in the brainstem that connect breathing to states of mind. The finding, published in the journal Science, explains how slow breathing induces tranquillity.

Medical practitioners sometimes prescribe breathing-control exercises for people with stress disorders. Similarly, the practice of pranayama, controlling breath in order to shift one's consciousness from an aroused or even frantic state to a more meditative one, is a core component of virtually all varieties of yoga.

The tiny cluster of neurons linking respiration to relaxation, attention, excitement and anxiety is located deep in the brainstem. This cluster, located in an area Mark Krasnow, professor of biochemistry at Stanford, calls the pacemaker for breathing, was discovered in mice by a study co-author Jack Feldman, a professor of neurobiology at University of California, Los Angeles, who published his findings in 1991. An equivalent structure has since been identified in humans.