Here's how breathing can also affect your memory

A team of Swedish-based researchers have recently found that breathing through your nose rather than your mouth can help memory storage and consolidation. Of late, most neuroscientists have been scrutinizing the link between smell and memory. While some have suggested that a damaged sense of smell might help predict dementia, others have given their opinions on why that may be true.



Scientists have also picked up on a number of clues along the way. For example, the amygdala is a small brain region that processes sensory information and is located close to the memory-storing hippocampus. This may be why smell can be associated with memory. More research has shown that people with a good spatial memory may be better at identifying smells. While these things focus on smell, newer research has now added breathing to the mix as well.



A study carried out by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden found that breathing through the nose could help improve olfactory memory. "Our study shows that we remember smells better if we breathe through the nose when the memory is being consolidated — the process that takes place between learning and memory retrieval [...] This is the first time someone has demonstrated this."