Don't Forget: How Mindfulness and Yogic Breathing Practices Support Working Memory

Have you ever made a mental list on the way to the grocery store of everything you'll need to purchase only to arrive and find you've forgotten it? If so, in that moment your working memory may have been impaired. Working memory is a cognitive system responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information needed for complex tasks such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. Unlike long-term memory, which stores information over extended periods, working memory functions as a mental workspace that helps us manage and process information in real time. For example, it allows us to do things like solve math problems in our head, follow multi-step directions, or keep track of a conversation. Working memory is essential because it supports decision-making, work performance, and day-to-day functioning. When working memory is overloaded or impaired, it becomes harder to concentrate, learn new information, or complete tasks efficiently. Everyday activities and our ability to participate in them depend on the health of our working memory. Thankfully, researchers are attempting to discover ways to support working memory health and functionality. While working memory is negatively impacted by stress, trauma, lack of sleep, and other environmental and genetic factors, there are some tools we can utilize to counteract working memory decline.

Mindfulness Training and its Impact on Working Memory.

The study published by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University explores whether mindfulness training can protect military service members from cognitive decline and emotional disturbances during the high-stress pre-deployment period (Jha et al., 2010). The researchers in this study used a quasi-experimental design. For their sample, they recruited 31 male Marines who they used for their test group, 17 Marines who they used for their military control group, and 12 civilians who functioned as their civilian control group (Jha et al., 2010). The mindfulness training test group participated in an 8-week mindfulness course that included in-class instruction and at-home practice (Jha et al., 2010). Working memory capacity was assessed via the Operation Span (commonly known in psychology as the Ospan) task, and affective states were measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Jha et al., 2010). 

Results from the study indicated that working memory declined in the military control group but remained stable or improved among those who participated in the mindfulness training (Jha et al., 2010). Those with high practice time showed the most significant improvement (Jha et al., 2010). In this way, practice time was positively associated with reduced negative effects of the impact of stress on working memory and increased positive effects (Jha et al., 2010). Mediation analysis showed that improvements in working memory partially explained the reduction in negative effects but the mechanism that led to the increase in positive effects is not fully understood (Jha et al., 2010). 

The study concludes that sufficient mindfulness practice may protect cognitive function (including working memory) and reduce negative emotional responses during high-stress periods (Jha et al., 2010). Limitations of the study include a non-randomized sample and small sample sizes (Jha et al., 2010). Additionally, potential confounds such as intrinsic resilience were not tested/tracked as possible covariances. These constraints limit causal interpretations, though the findings suggest promising avenues for mindfulness as a fruitful intervention for maintaining cognitive processing. 

Yogic Breathing Practices and their Impact on Working Memory

A study conducted by researchers at the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory in Bangalore, India investigated the immediate effects of slow yoga breathing practices on working memory performance and cardiac autonomic function (measured via heart rate variability, HRV) in young male yoga practitioners (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). The slow yoga breathing practices included alternate nostril breathing, right nostril breathing, and breath awareness practices (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). The researchers sought to determine whether slow yoga breathing practices could simultaneously enhance cognitive performance and influence autonomic balance during mentally demanding tasks (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). 

The study involved 40 healthy male participants aged 18–30 with at least six months of prior yoga experience (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). Using a within-subjects repeated-measures design, participants completed a 30-day orientation to slow yoga breathing practices at a controlled rate of 6 breaths per minute (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). Each participant engaged in three separate slow yoga breathing practices listed above, followed by a visual n-back task (0-back, 1-back, 2-back) pre- and post-intervention (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). Cognitive performance was assessed via reaction time and accuracy, and cardiac autonomic activity was measured with ECG-derived HRV metrics (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). 

Participants exhibited significantly improved reaction times and accuracy, particularly in the more cognitively demanding 2-back task, after alternate nostril breathing and right nostril breathing sessions (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). Slow yoga breathing practices also induced significant changes in HRV, including increased sympathetic activity and altered sympathovagal balance, as indicated by elevated LF power and LF/HF ratio (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). These physiological changes corresponded with the improved cognitive outcomes mentioned above (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). 

The study concludes that slow yoga breathing may facilitate mental performance by enhancing autonomic regulation and optimizing physiological arousal (Deepeshwar et al., 2022). However, the findings are constrained by several limitations; the sample was limited to male yoga practitioners, the design lacked a control group without yoga experience and the effects measured were short-term, thus more relevant to working memory than long-term memory. 

Working memory plays a vital role in our everyday functioning. The research on mindfulness and yogic breathing practices offers promising insights into how we might protect and enhance this crucial cognitive system. Mindfulness training appears to buffer against working memory decline during times of stress, while slow yogic breathing can produce immediate improvements in cognitive performance and physiological balance. Though both studies have limitations—including small or non-randomized samples and short-term measurements—they point toward accessible, low-cost interventions that may help individuals maintain or improve working memory in the face of life’s demands. As research in this area continues to grow, such practices may become key tools in promoting mental clarity, emotional resilience, and cognitive health.