Hyperventilation Explained: Managing Anxiety through Breath

What has to be taught first is the breath. - Confucius

When we are anxious, fearful, or stressed, we tend to hyperventilate. Understanding hyperventilation is key to managing anxiety.

Hyperventilation, or over-breathing, simply means inhaling and exhaling more air than the body needs. As a result, the body takes in too much oxygen while expelling more carbon dioxide than it produces, causing blood levels of carbon dioxide to drop too low.

Low levels of carbon dioxide in the blood can trigger several unpleasant sensations, such as:

• Irregular heart rate: Low carbon dioxide levels cause blood vessels to constrict, reducing blood flow throughout the body, including to the heart and brain. This can cause the heart to pound, skip beats, or produce palpitations.

• Trembling, tingling, or numbness: Reduced blood flow means that body tissues receive less oxygen, leading to tingling sensations or numbness in the mouth, hands, and feet. This can also cause a general weakness, making your legs feel unable to support you.

• Light-headedness, dizziness, and blurred vision: These are common symptoms, as the constricted blood vessels significantly reduce the oxygen supply to the brain—sometimes by nearly half.

• Shortness of breath and feelings of suffocation: This is often the most frightening symptom. Low levels of carbon dioxide prevent the body from effectively using the oxygen it has, creating a sensation of breathlessness, even though the body contains excess air.

It’s important to understand that all sensations caused by hyperventilation are completely harmless. Hyperventilation is a condition, not an illness, and it can happen to anyone.

The good news is that hyperventilation can be controlled. Breathing is the only automatic bodily function that you can consciously regulate. While you cannot directly slow your heart rate or stop sweating, tingling chest pain, or other panic attack symptoms, you can control your breathing.

This ability gives you the power to change how you breathe when you are anxious, fearful, or under stress. By adjusting your breathing during a panic attack, you can reduce the severity of the sensations and lower your anxiety.

Thus, the first step in managing anxiety and stress is learning to control your breathing.