You’ve probably heard that proverb The eyes are the window of the soulhowever, new research shows that they are related to how we breathe. Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands confirmed it Student size It fluctuates in sync with breathing, revealing a deeper connection between vision and body rhythm.
The well-known student changes
Scientists have been studying pupil size for years to understand attention, emotions and pathology. Three important factors that influence how students responded were known: mild exposure, cognitive effort, focus, and emotional arousal.
German researcher Eileen Lowenfeld He once said: “Man may blush or pale when he is emotionally upset, but his students always expand.”
These pupil responses are very consistent and reliable and are often used in psychology, neuroscience and medical diagnosis. For example, if the pupil is unable to respond to light, it can indicate a neurological emergency, such as a stroke.
The newly discovered pupil respiratory phase response
Currently, researchers are identifying breathing, the fourth factor that affects student size. In a newly identified phenomenon known as the pupil respiratory phase response, the pupil tends to be maximum during exhalation and minimal at the start of inhalation.
“Our result is that our vision can switch optimizations to distinguish between details while exhaling within a single breathing cycle, within all breathing cycles. It suggests that
This effect is completely internal and occurs within the body, not as a response to external stimuli. Research Team We reviewed past research and found anecdotal hints for this connection Going back over 50 yearshowever, previous evidence remained conclusive at best.
Participants were asked to change their breathing patterns, switch between nose and mouth breathing, and adjust breathing rates. “The pupil size remained at the lowest during inhalation and the largest during exhalation.”
A new tool to diagnose brain damage?
In medicine, pupil responses are already used to assess brain function. For example, if a student is unable to respond to light, it could indicate a neurological emergency, such as a stroke or brain injury.
This new finding suggests that irregularities in the relationship between breathing and pupil size may serve as an early indicator of neurological disorders. Conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and even anxiety disorders can destroy this newly identified respiratory link.
Where do you go from here?
Now that researchers have seen the link between breathing and pupil size, the next step is to explore its broader meaning. Future research could investigate whether manipulating breathing patterns can increase focus or visual clarity, and could provide new techniques to improve cognitive performance.
It can also be examined whether other internal rhythms, such as heartbeat and blood flow, affect pupil behavior, further revealing how the body and brain are synchronized.
This finding suggests that our bodies actively shape our real experiences in ways we are just beginning to understand.
