Researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla have discovered a pathway in the brain that controls our voluntary breathing. The lead author says this could pave the way for a new class of anti-anxiety drugs, including one he’s calling the “yoga pill.”
A scientist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla is hoping to develop a new anti-anxiety drug that would help you "focus, breathe and center."
Dr. Sung Han, an associate professor at Salk, refers to this potential medication as a "yoga pill." It would slow your breathing down — similar to how doing yoga or meditation does — to help reduce anxiety.
"Breathing is the only physiological function that you can voluntarily control," Han told NBC 7. "For example, you cannot change your heart rate, or you cannot change your body temperature, but you can always stop your breath by just thinking."
His research team started looking into what allows us to do that. For the first time, Han said they identified a pathway in the brain, a connection between the frontal cortex and the brainstem, that directly controls our conscious breathing.
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Mice were used as test subjects in their study, which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on Nov. 19. According to Han, mice and humans have similar brain and nerve structures, making this one of the first studies of its kind to suggest why slow breaths make us feel calmer.
"By turning on that, activating this certain population of neuron, we saw that the breathing rate is dramatically decreased and also the anxiety state was also decreased," Han said.
How a 'yoga pill' would differ from other anti-anxiety drugs
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Han wants to use this research to eventually create a "yoga pill" as well as a new class of anti-anxiety drugs.
The scientist explained that current medications were developed several decades ago and often cause side effects like dizziness and drowsiness because they act "everywhere in the brain."
"By targeting this specific pathway, we can develop specific drugs that only alleviate the anxiety, not causing other serious side effects," Han said.
He says people should try using natural methods to manage anxiety first but that this potential drug could help those with more serious conditions like panic disorders or PTSD.
"For example, when you're anxious, like me, then you take deep breaths," Han said. "But in case we cannot do it, then maybe we can, we need to seek a medication."
A "yoga pill" could still be years away, however. More research is needed to determine whether drugs could activate the specific pathway and induce slow breathing instantly, according to a Salk news release.
Han says his team is now also working to find a circuit that speeds up breathing and possibly increases anxiety.
"By doing that kind of experiment, we can selectively target the neurons only slowing down the breathing," he explained.
