Nowadays, we take for granted that air is composed of free floating atoms in the form of gases. But the ancient Greeks could only guess at the nature of that mysterious substance that sighed invisibly through the trees and filled their lungs with breath. They called it pneuma spirit. To the Greeks, the lung, or pneumon, was the organ of their bodies that drew in spirit from the surrounding air. The Romans likewise referred to breath as spiritus. To this day, we say that we expire when we give up our last breath, while inspiration means literally the drawing of air into our lungs.

Like so many ancient beliefs, those concerning pneuma and spiritus contained more than a grain of truth. Our brains, in which reside all that we think of as the human spirit, are totally dependent upon oxygen. Fully one third of all the oxygen used in our bodies goes directly to the brain. Evidence suggests that the more oxygen we receive, the better our brains function. Einstein’s brain, for example, possibly received more oxygen (and other blood borne nutrients) than most. Marian Diamond found that rats raised in a highly stimulating environment had enlarged capillaries and a higher density of glial cells, which are believed to act as mediators between the neurons and blood vessels of the brain.’ As noted in Chapter 1, Diamond found a similarly high density of glial cells in Einstein’s brain.

Dean Falk, an anthropologist at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, has even proposed that increased blood flow through the brain may have caused our apelike ancestors to evolve human intelligence. She points out that early hominids living in the African grasslands 2 to 3 million years ago evolved a “radiator” system of dense bunches of veins to cool their crania in the hot African sun Falk believes that this intricate blood network made it possible for the hominids’ brains to grow larger.

Underwater Swimming

In the summer of 1959, 1 attended summer school in an attempt to make up for some serious deficits in my grades. Because ray afternoons were free and the school had a pool, I spent several hours each afternoon swimming. 1 found that, for some reason, swimming underwater felt better to me than normal swimming. An unusually large amount of my time was therefore spent each clay holding my breath for extended periods, as much as 4 1/2 minutes at a time.

A remarkable thing occurred. Despite my lackluster academic record, my poor study habits, and the demanding course load I had taken on, my grades suddenly shot through the roof. On test after test, I found myself scoring 100. By the end of the summer, 1 had literally gone from the very bottom of my class to the top.

Only many years later did I gain an insight into how this might have happened. I was attending a lecture by the late Dr. Robert Doman, medical director of Philadelphia’s Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), founded by his brother Dr. Glenn Doman. During the lecture, Dr. Doman explained that whenever the carbon dioxide (GO2) content of the blood increases, our bodies interpret it to mean that our oxygen supply is being cut off. In response, the carotid arteries that carry blood to our heads open wide and allow more blood to flow through them, drenching the brain in an unusually rich flow of oxygenated blood. In more rigorous times, those of our ancestors who weren’t equipped with this safety device didn’t live long enough to become our ancestors. Today we can harness this primitive reflex to push ourselves forward on the evolutionary path to greater intelligence.

Oxygenating Your Brain

Increasing the flow of oxygen to your brain will accomplish two things. First, it will activate areas of your brain that are usually idle from lack of blood. Second, it will slow down the constant die off of brain cells.

Inside the skull, your carotid arteries branch into smaller and more numerous arteries, fanning out in a fantastically intricate network of lacy capillaries. This dense network is designed to reach into every crease and corner of your brain in order to feed as many neurons as possible. Yet, inevitably, some cells will be less well supplied than others. These tend to be the cells you use the least and are also the first to die off.

After the age of thirty, the brain’s circulatory system becomes less and less efficient. At least 35,000 brain cells will die every day 200 in the time it took to read this far in the chapter. Over the next week, almost a million more will likely die. Since humans have at least 100 billion brain cells, this rate of loss is hardly noticeable. Yet, it adds up over the years. Moreover, as the brain’s circulatory system continues to deteriorate, the neurons that die will tend more and more to be active, useful cells rather than idle ones.

You can arrest and even reverse this process by increasing your cerebral blood flow. As more blood flows into the brain, an equal amount flows out through the veins. This increased drainage has the added benefit of washing away toxins and wastes that interfere with brain function.

Masking

In general, the carotid arteries tend to overreact. They admit far more extra blood than is needed to compensate for tiny increases in CO2. For this reason, Dr. Doman suggested, an effective method for oxygenating the brain may be to induce small increases in the CO2 content of our blood. One technique Dr. Doman recommended for this purpose is called masking.

Masking simply means breathing into a constricted space for a few minutes (the IAHP uses a special mask for the purpose). Each exhalation contains a little less oxygen and a little more CO2. Masking for a minute or so will cut your oxygen intake only a tiny bit, but it will cause the carotid valves to open so wide that they are virtually flooding the brain with oxygen and nutrients.

After the first time you mask, the blood flow will soon return to normal. However, if you mask regularly for 30 second intervals every 30 minutes of your waking day and maintain that regimen for 2 to 3 weeks, you will train your carotid arteries to admit more blood on a continuous basis. Dr. Glenn Doman and his colleagues at the IAHP have come to regard masking as a potent method for improving brain function. Millions of their patients have used it safely over the years with powerful effect.

However, as the IAHP warns, masking may be hazardous. You should never mask without consulting a doctor first. The specialists at the IAHP in Philadelphia, for example, never advise masking until after they have assembled a detailed medical history of the patient.

Win Wenger, The Einstein Factor:
A Proven New Method for Increasing Your Intelligence

sky | February 28, 2005 |