Dr. Jack Feldman: Breathing for Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Huberman Lab Podcast #54

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.

#HubermanLab #Neuroscience #Breathing

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

Our Patreon page:
https://www.patreon.com/andrewhuberman

Supplements from Thorne:
https://www.thorne.com/u/huberman

Social:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab
Twitter – https://twitter.com/hubermanlab
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/hubermanlab
Website – https://hubermanlab.com
Newsletter – https://hubermanlab.com/neural-network

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
Audio Engineering: Joel Hatstat at High Jump Media

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