Breathe Your Way to a Better Memory

The yoga-geek in me is so excited! I read an article the other day that revealed some really cool stuff about yogic breathing practices (pranayama), and I just have to share it with you. Admittedly, the article is not new (it’s from last summer), but I still think it’s worth mentioning.

If you’ve tried yoga before, you may have practiced or heard of Nadi Sodhana, or alternate nostril breathing. This is a practice where you close your right nostril with your right thumb and inhale through the left one, then close the left nostril with your right ring finger and exhale through the right one. Then inhale right, exhale left…inhale left, exhale right…and so on. There are two other similar practices that involve breathing exclusively through the left nostril and exclusively through the right nostril. People report feeling a sense of calm and mental clarity after practicing these styles of breathing, which is a pretty good incentive to do it. But there’s the little voice of the skeptic in all of us, right?

Now, western science has arrived to back it up – which makes me excited because we all like a little science and logic to convince ourselves that something is worth trying. Dr. Oz himself and Dr. Roizen reported the results of two pranayama studies on healthzone.ca.

In the first study, subjects practiced alternate nostril breathing for one month. The results: “…slowed sympathetic nervous system activity and increased heart rate variability, both indicating less stress.”

In the second study, subjects practiced left nostril breathing before a memory test. They scored 16% higher than those who did not practice the breathing technique. AND, children who practiced left nostril breathing experienced a 43% increase in spatial memory.

How fantastic is that? As a person who often has to double and triple check the location of my cell phone before I leave a place, I now have a very strong incentive to up my pranayama game.