A study published in Nature Neuroscience and summarized this month in Neuroscience News indicates that researchers at the Salk Institute have found a circuit among parts of the brain that together help regulate anxiety through breathing. This discovery helps underscore how slowing one’s breathing or breathing with purpose can help reduce stress and anxiety.

The three areas of the brain—called the anterior cingulate cortex, the pons, and the medulla, together work to provide calm with slower breathing and anxiety with faster breathing rates.

The circuit helps researchers understand how practices such as yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices can be so beneficial.

You may find the Neuroscience News article here, and an abstract of the journal article here.