Disordered Breath-Brain Lateralization: At the Core of Schizophrenia Pathogenesis

Abstract

The nasal cycle rhythmic lateralization is linked to the brain's hemispheric dominance in the opposite direction. Both change in a rhythmic shift, causing parasympathetic and sympathetic states of the autonomic nervous system, which control the ergotrophic and trophotrophic BRAC (basic rest-activity cycle) phases of the body. These ultradian rhythms regulate homeostasis and catecholamine levels in human beings. Disturbed nasal cycle variation may create unbalanced functioning between both hemispheres, with one becoming hypoactive and the other becoming hyperactive, leading to neurodegeneration and neurotransmitter deregulation, thereby creating psychopathology, as in Schizophrenia