[Exploring Life] Abnormal breathing habits can significantly impair our quality of life. Due to the stress and pressures of life, we may be habitually breathing abnormally without knowing it. Chronic abnormal breathing has been linked to a range of serious stress-induced diseases and conditions. Abnormal breathing degrades the experience of being alive. Understanding the core elements and effects of abnormal breathing is fundamental to breath awareness and re-establishing natural full breathing patterns.
Breathing Abnormalities
…poor breathing habits have arisen not only out of our psychosomatic “ig-norance,” our lack of organic awareness, but also out of an unconscious need for a buffering mechanism to keep us from sensing and feeling the reality of our own deeply-rooted fears and contradictions. There is absolutely no doubt that superficial breathing ensures a superficial experience of ourselves. [1]
Hyperventilation: Hyperventilation, or overbreathing is an unhealthy increase in both the depth and rate of breathing. One of the mistaken beliefs about hyperventilation is that it creates too much oxygen in the blood stream. Increased levels of oxygen in the bloodstream are not problematic. The actual problem is a decrease in carbon dioxide in the blood stream. If blood levels of carbon dioxide is low enough it can lead to adverse symptoms such as irritability, fatigue, dizziness, anxiety, and poor concentration. Extremely low levels of carbon dioxide can result in fainting.
Many people live in a state of chronic hyperventilation, that is, hyperventilation becomes their “normal” state of breathing. Chronic hyperventilation is related to:
- Disease and a weakened immune system ;
- Mental disorders such as anxiety, panic, and depression;
- Feelings such as isolation, loneliness or abandonment;
- Exposure to environmental contaminates and toxins;
- The social annoyance known as excessive talking can also induce a state of hyperventilation;
- Traumatic events causing chronic stress also lead to chronic hyperventilation.
Hypoventilation: Hypoventilation, or underbreathing, results from a deprivation of oxygen as experienced in the feeling of being smothered or suffocated. It may also be described as a shortness of breath. The brain is literally sending a warning message that the body is oxygen deficient and unless addressed damage to the body may be immanent. However, barring any respiratory problems, hypoventilation is usually resolved through deep breathing in order to immediately step up the oxygen levels in the bloodstream. It seems that hypoventilation does not transfer into a problem that can be chronic in a healthy person.
Holding the breath: In a crisis one of our instinctive responses to the situation is to hold our breath. In doing so, we place our perception on high alert and increase our sensitivity to our immediate surroundings. Holding the breath can also be a control mechanism for the repression of anger, frustration, or more simply to restrain the energy that seeks to overtake our behavior in a situation. While there are contexts in which this is unavoidable, the habit of holding the breath is destructive since it over-taxes the fight-flight instinct and overloads the body with chemicals such as adrenaline.
Holding the breath is intimately related to stress, anxiety and depression. For example, something as routine as driving to work often morphs into the endless onslaught of a commute through the inferno and back. The fear of lacking the necessary financial resources to survive occupies a great deal of our energy in life, and difficulties in this area can lead to a profound and negative impact on the quality of our life. Sometimes we feel like stopping the world, and this serves to create a sense of holding on to survive.
Holding the breath alters the blood chemistry in undesirable ways. Too much carbon dioxide in the blood increases acidity in the body; too much oxygen in the blood makes the body too alkaline. If blood chemistry is too acidic we feel like yawning to bring in more oxygen. However, if we in turn bring in too much oxygen our bodies begin a mercurial dance between being too acidic and too alkaline. The toxic effects of this dance are revealed physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Chronic shallow breathing: Chronic shallow breathing is also known as habitual chest breathing. David Coulter provides a clear indication of how serious this problem can be:
Habitual chest breathing nor only reflects physical and mental problems, it creates them. [2]
Coulter describes a range of problems associated with shallow breathing including overstimulation of the nervous system, increased heart rate and blood pressure, as well as problems with digestion and circulation. The problematic nature of thoracic breathing lies in the fact that air does not tend to reach the lower parts of the lungs, where most of our blood supply is. Therefore thoracic breathing inhibits the intake of oxygen into the blood stream. The word “shallow” refers to a style of breathing in which the upper part of the lungs are emphasized at the expense of the lower parts of the lungs.
Sleep Disordered Breathing and Mortality: Sleep disorders is a general category that includes insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and parasomnia. Abnormal breathing while sleeping can lead to numerous health problems including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Research into sleep-disordered breathing and mortality found that:
About 1 in 10 women and 1 in 4 men have a chronic condition called sleep-disordered breathing although most are unaware of their problem. Sleep-disordered breathing, which is commonest in middle-aged and elderly people, is characterized by numerous, brief (10 second or so) interruptions of breathing during sleep. These interruptions, which usually occur when relaxation of the upper airway muscles decreases airflow, lower the level of oxygen in the blood and, as a result, affected individuals are frequently aroused from deep sleep as they struggle to breathe.
The researchers focused on the link between abnormal breathing, sleep and “all-cause” mortality. All-cause mortality that is the chance of dying from any cause. The findings of the research concluded:
…participants with severe sleep-disordered breathing (an AHI of ?30) were about one and a half times as likely to die from any cause after adjustment for potential confounding factors. People with milder sleep-disordered breathing did not have a statistically significant increased risk of dying. … men aged 40–70 years with severe sleep-disordered breathing had a statistically increased risk of dying from any cause (twice the risk of men of a similar age without sleep-disordered breathing). Finally, death from coronary artery disease was also associated with sleep-disordered breathing in men but not in women. [3]
The authors of the research study state that sleep-disordered breathing is an independent predictor of mortality and that this association is not attributable to age, obesity, or other chronic medical conditions. This means that a completely healthy person with no existing medical conditions is at a much greater risk of mortality if they suffer from sleep-disordered breathing.
Sleep Apnea: One of the most common sleep disorders is sleep apnea, a condition in which the airway is obstructed during sleep causing a pause in breathing, or when breathing becomes extremely shallow. The word apnea means temporary cessation of breath (from the Greek apnoia meaning breathless). When the airway is restricted during sleep, the decrease in oxygen levels triggers the brain to interrupt sleep (survival mechanism) in order to clear the airway and increase oxygen levels in the body. The frequent drops in oxygen trigger the release of stress hormones, which elevates blood pressure and places the nervous system into fight or flight mode. Sleep apnea is linked to increased risk of hypertension, heart attack or failure, irregular heart rhythm, diabetes and obesity. [4]
It is interesting to note that the National Health Service (UK) advises:
As unusual as it sounds, there is evidence that regularly playing the Australian wind instrument, the didgeridoo, can help to reduce the symptoms of mild to moderate OSA. [5]
It seems reasonable to assume that any wind instrument, when practiced correctly and regularly, will improve the general quality of breathing, and therefore have the potential to help reduce or relieve the symptoms of sleep apnea.
Abnormal Breathing: Key Points
- Abnormal breathing can become chronic.
- Abnormal breathing may be subconscious and out of our own awareness.
- Abnormal breathing can cause serious degenerative disease such as heart attacks, and serious degenerative conditions such as high blood pressure.
- Abnormal breathing can cause mental disorders such as chronic anxiety, panic attacks, disorientation, and depression.
- Abnormal breathing patterns can be the root cause for a lack of enjoyment and fulfillment in life.
- Sleep-disordered breathing is a serious condition that increases the probability of all-cause mortality.
- Sleep apnea is a common type of sleep disorder in which abnormal breathing patterns during sleep create significant amounts of stress on the body that over time can become life threatening.
Notes
1. Lewis, Dennis. The Tao of Natural Breathing, 1997.
2. Coulter, David. Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, 2001. Coulter dedicates a chapter that details the physiology of breathing.
3. Punjabi NM, Caffo BS, Goodwin JL, Gottlieb DJ, Newman AB, et al. (2009) Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study. PLoS Med 6(8): e1000132. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000132.
4. An overview of sleep apnea including an animation of how obstructive sleep apnea works can be found at The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Diseases and Conditions: Sleep Apnea (Accessed August 2009). Also see:
- Your Guide to Healthy Sleep.
- Sleep Studies
- NHS: Sleep Apnoea
- MedlinePlus: Sleep Apnea
- Sleep Heart Health Study
5. NHS: Sleep Aponea: Treatment.
[...] a deep breath in order to calm ourselves down when we are feeling distressed. Done incorrectly, abnormal breathing can make our sense of distress significantly worse. The intent of the advice is generally aimed at [...]