Breathing influences every system in your body.

When you have a fully functioning respiratory system, your body can perform optimally supporting its own healing and recovery. Ideally your breath responds to the challenges of life, stimulating your nervous system and then relaxes to support recovery and healing when you rest. You want your breath to change in many ways, being flexible and dynamic, supporting you when you sing, work-out, do hard things, play, sleep, and go about your life.

As mammals, we evolved to breathe through our nose. In my last blog post, I shared some research on how breathing through your nose increases your brain’s cognitive functions and memory processing. In this post, I explore another aspect of the brain and breathing. Through different breathing techniques you can improve and alter the movement of your cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) , supporting your brain’s nutrient delivery and waste removal system.

Your CSF creates a healthy environment for your brain and nervous system.

Your cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) cushions and protects your brain and spinal cord. It’s made in your brain from filtered blood. Your CSF brings nutrients to your brain and removes waste products. Your CSF flows around your brain and spinal cord, the speed at which it moves will vary based on your physiology and lifestyle. The latest understanding is that pressure changes created by the lungs and heart drive circulation of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

You can increase your CSF flow by changing your breath. The pressure changes created by your breathing influence the movement of your CSF. One study suggests that the lower you breathe in your torso, the greater the flow of CSF. Intuitively this makes sense to me as your CSF flows around your brain and along your spinal cord. Creating a larger pressure change at one of the loop (the bottom of the spine) could increase the movement.

Another study suggests that if you alter the pace of your breath or hold your breath, you can increase the flow of your CSF. The research is still young, but I find it incredibly fascinating how interconnected are bodily functions are. If you can create a greater pressure change inside your body with your breath, particularly if it’s directed towards the ends of spine and cranial system, you can increase the circular rhythm of the flow of the fluid bathing your brain.

Support the flow of your CSF with your breath.

Try this breathing exercises. Sit in a comfortable position with a nice long spine and relaxed neck.

Take a slow breath sending it all the way into your lower belly area. Imagine your breath filling up your pelvic bowl.

Relax and exhale, imagining the breath flowing up your spine and out your head.

Repeat 6 times. Inhaling into your lower belly and relaxing on the exhale.

On you next inhale, hold the breath for 20 seconds or as long as you feel comfortable. Relax and exhale. Then breathe normally. Repeat the entire set again.

Send gratitude to your brain, spinal column, and the fluid that travels around your them for helping you function and participate in the living world.

Some recent studies

• 2022 Study: Immediate impact of yogic breathing on pulsatile cerebrospinal fluid dynamics
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a clear fluid bathing the central nervous system (CNS), undergoes pulsatile movements. Together with interstitial fluid, CSF plays a critical role for the removal of waste products from the brain, and maintenance of the CNS health. As such, understanding the mechanisms driving CSF movement is of high scientific and clinical impact. Since pulsatile CSF dynamics is sensitive and synchronous to respiratory movements, we are interested in identifying potential integrative therapies such as yogic breathing to regulate CSF dynamics, which has not been reported before. Here, we investigated the pre-intervention baseline data from our ongoing randomized controlled trial, and examined the impact of four yogic breathing patterns: (i) slow, (ii) deep abdominal, (iii) deep diaphragmatic, and (iv) deep chest breathing with the last three together forming a yogic breathing called three-part breath.
• 2024 Research from MIT: Using respiratory challenges to modulate CSF movement across different physiological pathways: An fMRI study
• With growing evidence signifying the impact of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in facilitating waste clearance from the brain and potential pathophysiological links to neurodegenerative disorders, it is of vital importance to develop effective methods to modulate CSF flow in the brain. Here, we attempt this by means of simple commonly used respiratory challenges—paced breathing and breath holding.
• 2019 Study on Respiratory influence on cerebrospinal fluid flow – a computational study based on long-term intracranial pressure measurements
• Current theories suggest that waste solutes are cleared from the brain via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow, driven by pressure pulsations of possibly both cardiac and respiratory origin. In this study, we explored the importance of respiratory versus cardiac pressure gradients for CSF flow within one of the main conduits of the brain, the cerebral aqueduct.
• 2022 Paper providing A Brief Overview of the Cerebrospinal Fluid System and Its Implications for Brain and Spinal Cord Diseases
• This paper explains more about what CSF is, what we know about it, and why it’s important. The CSF system constitutes a crucial role in the Central Nervous System (CNS) as it provides mechanical protection, ensures homeostasis, and facilitates communication between the CNS and peripheral nervous system, lymphatic system, vascular system, and immune system. Some very preliminary research has linked Alzheimer’s disease to an accumulation of certain proteins.