Citation
Yadav G, Mutha PK. Deep Breathing Practice Facilitates Retention of Newly Learned Motor Skills. Sci Rep. 2016 Nov 14;6:37069. doi: 10.1038/srep37069. PMID: 27841345; PMCID: PMC5107920.
4 FUNDAMENTALS
1. Essential Background Material
This study aimed to assess whether controlled alternate nostril breathing could improve the learning of motor skills. Wikipedia tells us that “A motor skill is a function that involves specific movements of the body's muscles to perform a certain task. … In order to perform this skill, the body's nervous system, muscles, and brain have to all work together.” So, if breathing can help with these most fundamental of skills, that would be meaningful.
And we know that controlled breathing does do many incredible things related to the brain and memory. For instance, slow deep breathing has been shown to increase pain threshold to hot and cold exposure. Nasal breathing has also been shown to synchronize brainwave activity and improve response times compared to mouth breathing. Alternate and uni-nostril breathing have improved verbal and spatial performance, suggesting a strong influence over cognitive functioning.
However, it is unclear if these benefits of breathing will translate to learning motor skills. But, the authors of this paper hypothesized they might because learning and retaining motor skills requires the activation of many different brain regions that are also activated by controlled breathing. And, as we will see, they were remarkably correct.
2. What Did this Research Do?
The researchers found 40 participants (31 male, 9 female) aged 18 to 27 to take part in the study. They had them draw a circle on an electronic tablet (sort of like signing your name on an electronic pad). However, they could not actually see their hand; they could only see the drawing as it appeared on the screen.
And importantly, they had bounds within which they had to keep their circle. If they went outside of those bounds, errors began accumulating. They also had to draw the circle within 2.1 seconds. So, time and spatial constraints to this task provided a quantifiable error.
They drew the circle 100 times to minimize their error. Then, they rested for 30 minutes. The control group (n=14) sat quietly during this 30-min period. The breathing group performed 30 minutes of alternate nostril breathing (ANB) at a pace of about 7.5 breaths per minute using a 2-second inhale, 2-second hold, and 4-second exhale.
Then, both groups were tested again on their ability to draw the circle. They were also tested again 24 hours later to see how the breathing affected long-term motor skill retention.
3. What Were the Major Findings?
This is where it gets insane : )
Imagine you do something 100 times. You feel like you have it. Then, you rest for 30 minutes and do it again, only to find out you are almost the same as when you first started—frustrating, right? That’s what happened to the control group.
However, the ANB group basically didn’t lose any of their skill during the 30-minute rest. Their results looked almost identical to where they left off before the 30-min break. That is, they learned the motor skill better due to the breathing.
But it gets even crazier. At the 24-hour retest, the breathing group looked just like they did the day before, whereas the control again looked like they had never taken the test before.
Overall, these results showed that the ANB group significantly outperformed the control group. They retained the motor skill better after the 30-min break, and they also improved long-term motor skill retention 1 day later, with no additional breathing.
One 30-minute session. One day of improved learning and retention.
4. Why Do These Results Matter?
I think the importance of these results is immediately apparent. This research showed that performing ANB after learning a motor skill improves both immediate and long-term retention of that skill. Thus, a simple breathing exercise (and only one session) could be used to improve short and long-term learning of motor skills.
These results could be immediately applicable in sports training. Moreover, ANB could also potentially be used in people relearning motor skills after an injury.
1 BIG TAKEAWAY
We can use slow alternate nostril breathing immediately after learning a skill to improve that skill's short and long-term retention. More broadly and simply stated, this study supports using ANB after a task for enhanced learning.
1 PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Perform slow alternate nostril breathing immediately after learning a new skill if you're looking for a quick and effective way to improve your retention of that skill.
Using a breathing app, use the following settings (or just count in your head like they did in this study):
Inhale: 2 seconds
Hold: 2 seconds
Exhale: 4 seconds
Or, use any variation that maintains that ratio that is comfortable for you (e.g., 3:3:6; 4:4:8; etc.).