‘It seems counterintuitive, but holding your breath is euphoric’ – sleep apnea benefits the brain

“Most people have bad breath.” Vincent Bruno laughs. At the age of 42, this freediving instructor teaches breathing and freediving lessons at a club on Gruyck Island near Lorient. Each month it offers weekend sessions called “The Power of Breath” in which participants are invited to “relearn how to breathe.”

“Breathing is an automatic function that we tend not to think about,” continues Vincent Bruno, “but it’s very easy to recognize the causes of bad breath… There is hyperventilation, the act of breathing too fast and too loudly; breathing too high in the chest and finally mouth breathing with the mouth instead of the nose.’

Yoga touch

During these Breton sessions there is no glimmering in the ocean; it is in the room that Vincent gives his advice. Breathing exercises follow one another in the yurt. At the end of the course, the ten participants, equipped with nose clips, alternating breathing phases and apnea phases in total synchronization, all within thirty minutes;

Slowing down the metabolism, lowering the heart rate, stopping breathing will paradoxically be a true Zen experience for Vincent Bruno Apnea has something to do with one of the pillars of yoga, which is based on breath control. Apnea allows you to reconnect with your body, improve the sharpness of your sensory perceptions, it is a form of self-discovery. Breathing is the only vital function of the body that we can control. For me, it’s not a coincidence, it’s an invitation.”

Feeling drunk

Diving clubs are multiplying in Paris and the big cities, and many practitioners report the same experience of a state of deep relaxation, a sense of detachment from an extremely stressful world, as 40-year-old Pierre has been freediving at the club for two years, in addition to diligent cycling practice. He describes “a certain feeling of intoxication due to not breathing.”

Through breathing, I am able to change states of consciousness, emotions, my mind, and my body’s response.

Guillaume Neri, two-time world champion free diver

“When you’re at the bottom of the pool, you have to be ready to let go,” he adds excitedly, “otherwise you’re right back in when you think you’re running out of air. It sounds pretty counterintuitive, but it’s breath-takingly euphoric.” Since Big Blue (1988), a film by Luc Besson that drew attention to discipline, the practice became largely democratic, aided by charismatic personalities such as two-time world champion free diver Guillaume Neri (record: 126 meters).

Serenity of a monk

At 42, Nissua is the most popular ambassador for her discipline, garnering millions of views on YouTube for her stunning beauty and poetry videos (29 million views). free fall which sees him break into an underwater moat). He, who started diving without tanks at the age of 14, displays a monk’s composure when he talks about his sport, evoking “calmness, stillness, serenity” but also “well-being, harmony, energy”. as in the fascinating TEDx conference given at the Sorbonne in 2015. For him, “apnea is not a cessation of breathing, it’s just a stage, a moment when we decide to stop breathing. And Guillaume Neri is categorical. “Thanks to breathing, I am able to change states of consciousness, emotions, my mind and my body’s response.” (1)

“Brain Shutdown”

Experts have directly observed this altered state of consciousness…in his brain. In 2021, neuroscientist Steven Lloris, a researcher at the University of Liège in Belgium and the author of many books on the subject, used MRI and high-density electroencephalogram to study Neri’s brain (after the brain of Buddhist monk Mathieu Ricard). , this other “spirit athlete,” according to Stephen Lorais). Equipped with a helmet with 250 electrodes on the skull, the champion held his breath for seven minutes (in the open air). And here, surprisingly, the neuroscientist was able to notice an increase in the activity of brain connections and “similarities with the changes caused by meditation.”

Apnea allows you to improve the sharpness of your sensory perceptions, it is a form of self-awareness

Vincent Bruno, scuba diving instructor at Groys Island

Because, like “meditators”, Neri is able to modify the activity of his brain and lower the so-called beta waves (fast, with a frequency of 12 to 30 Hz) to promote alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz), that is, state light. relaxation. Theta waves (4 to 8 Hz) correspond to deep relaxation, meditation, and paradoxical sleep, while delta waves (0.5 to 4 Hz) are the waves of deep sleep. What if this “brain shutdown” dear to Guillaume Neri could be made available to everyone with a little practice, resulting in, according to the athlete, “better physical, mental and emotional health?”

Advantages of research

For Vincent Bruno, apnea exercises above all allow you to manage your stress. “When you stop breathing, at some point you feel a feeling of discomfort associated with a lack of oxygen… And it is this feeling that we have to learn. tame.” The key is a greater ability to manage other forms of anxiety; “Apnoea can lead to a meditative state, that is, becoming aware of the present moment and surroundings,” adds the expert. “The idea is to stop being a slave to the mind and follow its thoughts without participating in them.”

In an article published online The conversationDamien Vitiello, a teacher-researcher specializing in exercise and training physiology at Paris Cite University, cites a study that highlights a significant difference in “stress, anxiety and the ‘negative effects’ of stress” between 36 freedivers and 41 non-athletes, which , however, deserve further study, according to the researcher. Because the benefits of apnea have yet to be studied.

Breathing is an automatic function that we tend not to think about

Vincent Bruno, scuba diving instructor at Groys Island

Some scientists emphasize the improvement of the body’s antioxidant defense. tests conducted after more than 200 immersions over five consecutive days showed the adaptation of the antioxidant defense of white blood cells. Others hope to prove that apnea can affect mental health or high blood pressure, for example. One thing is certain for Vincent Bruno. “After more than three minutes of apnea, blood flow shows +300% within thirty minutes, that’s a real shot of oxygen for the brain.” So are you ready to hit the bottom of the pool?

(1) It was in Villefranche-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), the historic site of scuba diving and freediving, that the athlete founded his school, the Bluenery Academy. From May to September it offers discovery diving courses, free diving baptisms and open sea experiences. blueneryacademy.com