How does breathing alter the brain? Inside the science of sighs with a world-leading neuroscientist

Prof. Jack Feldman, a world-leading neuroscientist, explains how breathing actively alters brainwaves, sharpens memory, and dictates emotional processing. He discovered the preBötzinger complex, a brainstem cluster that controls breathing and sighing. Feldman spoke at Hebrew University's IMRIC conference, detailing how sighing every five minutes is an involuntary survival mechanism that maintains lung health. His research shows that slow breathing reduces fear response in mice, suggesting breathwork can calm humans.

Prof. Jack Feldman, a world-leading neuroscientist from UCLA, flew to Israel for the first time to speak at Hebrew University's IMRIC conference. He explained that breathing is not merely automatic gas exchange but a two-way street: every inhalation and exhalation actively rewrites brainwaves, sharpens memory, and dictates emotional processing. Feldman discovered and named the preBötzinger complex, a tiny cluster of neurons in the brainstem that generates breathing rhythm and controls sighing. He demonstrated that sighing every five minutes on average is an involuntary physiological sigh — a double inhalation followed by extended exhalation — which re-inflates alveoli and prevents lung collapse. His research on mice showed that slow breathing over 30 days significantly reduced fear response, suggesting breathwork can calm humans. Feldman, originally a physicist, took LSD as a graduate student and became interested in how the brain perceives space and time. He hopes his work will eventually help people, though he does not research humans directly.