“What does science know today about the effects of apnea on the physical and the mental? “

Ten thousand steps and more. For ordinary people, it is an extreme sport, fascinating but dangerous, reserved for an elite. For Guillaume Néry, one of his great figures (he notably has four deep world records to his credit, and two world champion titles), freediving is also a “therapy” to escape the frenzy of the world. today. “It’s a way for me to have better physical health, better mental health”, he said in 2015, in a fascinating conference TEDxPanthéonSorbonne. Learning to breathe and stopping breathing can bring you a lot of things, the freediver promised his audience: calm, serenity, but also better ability to concentrate, energy …

Apart from any search for performance, these effects, which evoke those of meditation, are nowadays appreciated by a growing number of followers. At 38, Guillaume Néry participates in the democratization of his discipline – never to practice without the supervision of a third party. Its apnea school, the Bluenery Academy, co-founded with photographer Bastien Soleil, opens Monday, May 17 in Villefranche-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes).

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Through a collaboration with the Ecole des mines Paris, this school will also be a “European reference center for a medical and technological studies project”, states the press release.

More brain connections

What does science know today about the effects of apnea on the physical and mental? Specialist in modified states of consciousness, the Belgian neurologist Steven Laureys (CHU de Liège) is in the process of publishing the results of the exploration of Guillaume Néry’s brain. Certainly, to lend himself to a functional MRI and a high-density electroencephalogram (256 electrodes), the champion was not in his aquatic element, but he held a seven-minute apnea in the open air. “We observed an increase in the activity of brain connections, which has similarities with the modifications induced by meditation, but also particularities”, sums up Steven Laureys. Thus, contrary to what has been described in meditators, Guillaume Néry’s brain has increased functional connectivity at the level of a small area of ​​the parietal cortex, the precuneus, “A hyperconnected region which plays the role of conductor of self-awareness”, enthuses the neurologist.

The observed brain changes reflect a unique mental state, believe Jitka Annen, first author of the article, and her co-signers (including Guillaume Néry). This mental state is “Characterized by a feeling of well-being, even of” pure consciousness “, alternating or coexisting with an increase in cognitive control, necessary to support a long voluntary apnea but also to stop it in the last phase, the most dangerous but also the most pleasant “, they write.

“Athletes of the Spirit”

If these findings need to be verified by other studies in freedivers, “This shows that we have the possibility of influencing our autonomic, sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system”, notes Professor Laureys. And the scientist, author of Meditation is good for the brain (Editions Odile Jacob, 2019), to insist: “Spirit athletes like Guillaume Néry, the meditator Mathieu Ricard or even the trance specialist Corine Sombrun teach us a lot about human physiology and the capacities that we could develop. ” The cognitive control associated with apnea could help improve the quality of life of certain patients, suffering from chronic pain for example, hope the authors of the forthcoming article.

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“Apnea has given rise to a lot of work in physiology, in particular cardiovascular and respiratory, but clinical studies are still few in other fields”, estimates Damien Vitiello, lecturer and researcher in exercise physiology (Paris Institute of Sport-Health Sciences), who has just written an article about it on the site The Conversation. For this underwater fishing practitioner since childhood, very diverse fields could be explored: the effects of apnea on brain performance, on mental health, but also potentially on the reduction in the severity of certain cardio pathologies. -vascular such as high blood pressure, or lung disease.