Take a Deep Breath—It Just Might Lower Your Risk for Alzheimer’s

Insights and discussion from the cutting edge with reference to journal articles and other research papers.
Post Reply
TLS
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 77
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:29 am

Take a Deep Breath—It Just Might Lower Your Risk for Alzheimer’s

Post by TLS »

This paper referenced on the AlzForum is very interesting. It shows the benefits of slowing down breathing and increasing heart rate variability. Personally I try to meditate with the Inner Balance app and ear device because without it I had a hard time learning how to do 4 box breathing. Lately my fitbit says my heart rate has been going up, so I am finding this article as a motivator to make sure I meditate every day and add in some yoga deep breathing exercises!
Lifestyle changes have been touted as a way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but many of these, such as exercising more, are hard to implement. What if prevention were as simple as controlling your breathing? A paper in the March 9 Scientific Reports offers tantalizing hints of this. Researchers led by Mara Mather at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, found that healthy adults who did a daily slow-breathing exercise for a month lowered the amount of Aβ40 and Aβ42 in their blood. Because high plasma Aβ is associated with AD risk and general mortality, it is possible this drop could be protective, although that remains to be shown. Mather noted that other healthy behaviors, such as exercise or improving sleep, have not yet demonstrated the ability to change Aβ in a favorable direction compared to control interventions. “To have a behavioral intervention that moves the dial on plasma Aβ is really unique,” she told Alzforum.

Why modify breathing? Because it affects heart rate. When people inhale, their heartbeat speeds up, and when they exhale, it slows down. This heart rate variability (HRV) is controlled by the vagus nerve, and is thus an indication of parasympathetic nerve activity. The vagus communicates to all major organs, and it counteracts stimulation from the sympathetic nervous system. It can cause heart rate and blood pressure to drop suddenly, as when a person faints at the sight of blood or from emotional distress. Inhaling partially blocks vagal impulses, speeding up the heart.
https://www.alzforum.org/news/research- ... alzheimers
apoe 3/4
User avatar
SusanJ
Senior Contributor
Senior Contributor
Posts: 3058
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 7:33 am
Location: Western Colorado

Re: Take a Deep Breath—It Just Might Lower Your Risk for Alzheimer’s

Post by SusanJ »

We have a wiki on the vagus nerve and it includes several ways to improve heart rate variability, breathing/yoga being one of them.

Thanks for posting as a reminder for us all to breathe!!!
Post Reply