YOUR BRAIN IS LISTENING TO YOUR BREATH: The PreBötzinger Complex & the Neuroscience of Breathing, Emotion and Regulation
Marie T. Rogers, MPS, Ph.D.
“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts.” — Thích Nhất Hạnh
We take roughly 20,000 breaths each day, most of them without giving breathing any conscious thought. Unlike many functions of the autonomic nervous system, breathing occupies an unusual space between automatic and voluntary control. Your heart continues beating without your instruction. Digestion proceeds largely outside conscious awareness. But breathing is different. The nervous system automatically generates and adjusts the rhythm of breathing without requiring your conscious attention. Yet, at almost any moment, you can deliberately step in and change that rhythm. This dual control is part of what makes breathing such a remarkable bridge between automatic physiology and conscious influence.
You can slow your breathing.
Deepen it.
Hold it.
Lengthen an exhalation.
Take a sigh.
And within seconds, you may begin to feel different.
Why? Part of the answer takes us deep into the brainstem, to a tiny but extraordinarily important network of neurons called the preBötzinger complex, or preBötC.
MEET THE BRAIN'S BREATHING RHYTHM GENERATOR
Located in the ventrolateral medulla of the brainstem, the preBötzinger complex plays a central role in generating the rhythmic neural activity necessary for inspiration. In simpler terms, it helps the brain answer a question that must be answered continuously from the moment we are born: When should I take my next breath? Rarely do we have to think about that question because brainstem respiratory networks are doing the work for us.
While you are sleeping, breathing continues. While you are concentrating on a difficult problem, breathing continues. While you are driving, talking, reading or daydreaming, breathing continues. The nervous system quietly maintains this life-sustaining rhythm in the background. But the story becomes much more interesting when we recognize that breathing is not simply an automatic mechanical process for moving oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. Breathing changes with how we feel.
Think about what happens when you become frightened. Your breathing may become faster and shallower. When you cry, your respiratory rhythm changes. When you laugh, it changes again. When you anticipate something stressful, you may unconsciously hold your breath. When you finally receive good news after a period of uncertainty, you may release a long, spontaneous sigh. Our breathing patterns are constantly changing alongside our emotional and physiological states. This raises a fascinating question and creates a smooth segue into our next section:
IF EMOTION CAN CHANGE BREATHING, CAN BREATHING CHANGE EMOTION?
Increasingly, neuroscience suggests that the relationship runs in both directions. Emotional and physiological states influence breathing, but breathing patterns can also send signals back through interconnected brain, brainstem and autonomic systems associated with arousal and regulation.
This is one reason breathing practices have become so important in discussions of nervous-system regulation. We are not simply thinking ourselves calm. We are changing a physiological process that is intimately connected with the nervous system. For example, let's look at the practice of yoga. In yoga, breathing is not merely something that accompanies movement. The breath becomes the bridge between the body and the mind.
THE SIGH MAY BE MORE SOPHISTICATED THAN WE THINK
One particularly interesting example in our discussion is the physiological sigh. A physiological sigh generally involves two inspirations followed by a longer expiration. Humans and other mammals produce sighs spontaneously, and sighing serves important respiratory functions, including helping reopen alveoli—the tiny air sacs within the lungs that can gradually collapse during normal breathing. Interestingly, researchers have also studied deliberate sigh-like breathing as a tool for reducing physiological arousal.
The basic pattern is simple: INHALE → SECOND INHALE → LONG, SLOW EXHALE
What looks like an ordinary breath is actually producing changes across respiratory mechanics, gas exchange and autonomic physiology. And this brings us to an important distinction. The calming effects associated with deliberate breathing should not be attributed to the preBötzinger complex alone. Human respiratory regulation involves a remarkably interconnected system that includes multiple brainstem respiratory networks, the lungs, cardiovascular system, autonomic nervous system and higher brain regions involved in emotion, attention and conscious control. The preBötzinger complex is therefore not a magical "calm button." It is something more fascinating. It is part of the neural architecture that helps connect breathing, brain state and behavior.
BREATHING IS BOTH BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN
This is where breathwork becomes particularly interesting from the perspective of nervous-system regulation. We can deliberately decide to change our breathing—a top-down action. But once the respiratory pattern changes, altered sensory and physiological information travels through the body and nervous system—a bottom-up influence. Breathing therefore sits at an unusual intersection:
THE BRAIN CONTROLS THE BREATH.
THE BREATH INFLUENCES THE BODY.
THE BODY SENDS INFORMATION BACK TO THE BRAIN.
And because we can consciously intervene in this loop, breathing provides us with something extraordinary: a voluntary doorway into an otherwise largely automatic physiological system. Perhaps this is why humans have independently incorporated intentional breathing into contemplative, meditative and movement traditions for centuries; long before anyone knew that a tiny collection of neurons called the preBötzinger complex existed.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Current research in neuroscience is beginning to give us a biological language for something human beings have experienced for a very long time: Change the breath, and you may begin to change the state. Not because every difficult emotion should be breathed away. Not because the goal of nervous system regulation is perpetual calm. But because sometimes the most effective way to communicate with an activated nervous system may not begin with another thought.
Sometimes, it simply begins with the next breath,
the next exhale,
the next sigh!
References
Feldman, J. L., Del Negro, C. A., & Gray, P. A. (2013). Understanding the rhythm of breathing: So near, yet so far. Annual Review of Physiology, 75, 423–452.
Ashhad, S., Kam, K., Del Negro, C. A., & Feldman, J. L. (2022). Breathing rhythm and pattern and their influence on emotion. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 45, 223–247.
Li, P., Janczewski, W. A., Yackle, K. et al. (2016). The peptidergic control circuit for sighing. Nature, 530, 293–297.
Yackle, K., Schwarz, L. A., Kam, K. et al. (2017). Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice. Science, 355, 1411–1415.
Vlemincx, E., Abelson, J. L., Lehrer, P. M., Davenport, P. W., Van Diest, I., & Van den Bergh, O. (2013). Respiratory variability and sighing: A psychophysiological reset model. Biological Psychology, 93, 24–32.
Ramirez, J. M. (2014). The integrative role of the sigh in psychology, physiology, pathology, and neurobiology. Progress in Brain Research, 209, 91–129.
Disclaimer
This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical, psychological, or other professional healthcare advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Breathing practices can influence physiological and emotional states, and individual responses may vary. Some breathing techniques may not be appropriate for everyone, particularly individuals with certain medical, cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, or psychiatric conditions. If you have concerns about whether a breathing practice is appropriate for you, consult a qualified healthcare professional. If a breathing exercise causes dizziness, significant discomfort, shortness of breath, panic, or other concerning symptoms, discontinue the practice and seek appropriate medical guidance.
About Dr. Rogers
Dr. Marie T. Rogers is a psychologist, consultant, podcaster, certified yoga instructor, author, and creator of planners, guided journals and notebooks that inspire reflection, growth, and intentional living.
Dr. Rogers' publications include TIME IN FOCUS 2026-2027 Academic & Professional Planner, THE INWARD JOURNEY: A Self-Reflection Journal for Focus, Energy & Calm, LIFE in FOCUS: A Self-Discovery Journal for Powerful Transformation, POWERFUL MANIFESTATION: Bringing Your Vision to Life through Intention-Setting, Gratitude and Self-Reflection, and FLOWING INTO THE GRATITUDE ZONE: My Daily Journaling Practice—each designed to foster mindfulness, emotional clarity, and inner peace through self-guided inquiry and gratitude.
In addition to her transformative planner and journals, she has created versatile companion notebooks: I CAN LEARN ANYTHING: My Study Notebook for Capturing Course Content, supporting active learners and CAPTURING CREATIVITY: One Idea at a Time, and IDEAS, INSPIRATIONS, INSIGHTS: My Notebook for Capturing Creativity, both designed to hold space for spontaneous brilliance and reflection.
Dr. Rogers hosts the LIFE in FOCUS podcast where she talks about all things neuroscience, mental health, executive functioning, psychoneuroimmunology (otherwise known as the mind-body connection and the role stress plays), mindfulness, and basically how to live your best, most successful, most energized and healthiest life.
Want more insights on the science of mind-body health? Subscribe to Dr. Rogers LIFE IN FOCUS substack and the Rogers Research Global YouTube Channel for guided meditations, educational videos, and neuroscience-based strategies.
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