Approved Research

The influence of nasal obstruction on brain activity

Lay summary

The notion that overall brain activity is linked to overall respiratory cycles is well documented, mostly in rodents. There is extensive evidence for global and local brain rhythms that are entrained by respiration, but little evidence for similar effects in humans.

We aim to divide all subjects into groups according to their nasal airflow pattern using their structural scans, and then to examine if these groups are different also in their brain activity patterns.

The opportunity to use the huge UK-biobank dataset will enable us to systematically link these nasal structural patterns to brain activity patterns. 

As this area of research in humans is overlooked we hope that this study will be a great starting point to examine the link between brain activity and airflow patterns in humans. We estimate the project's duration to be 3 years.