Breathing Biofeedback
In any walk of life, optimal performance requires optimal
breathing. Over-breathing, or hyperventilation,
paradoxically starves the brain of oxygen and affects
performance on different levels:
- physical - laboured breath, chest pains, fatigue, nausea,
headaches
- mental - poor concentration, fuzzy-headedness, impulsiveness
- emotional - anxiety and panic, depression, emotional volatility.
Over-breathing is common. It's an almost instinctive response to stress and anxiety.
Under stress the breath tends to quicken and shift higher in the chest.
Carbon Dioxide Biofeedback: Why It Matters
Healthy breathing largely comes down to carbon dioxide. Though a waste product,
carbon dioxide serves vital functions in the body. Over-breathing depletes carbon dioxide
levels in the blood, and it's this that leads to the negative effects mentioned above.
Most breathing training focuses on the mechanics of breathing - how fast, how deep -
without necessarily addressing carbon dioxide levels. You could learn
very "proper" breathing mechanics - diaphragmatic breathing, etc. -
and not affect your carbon dioxide levels - or even make them worse.
Capnometry
A capnometer is a device that measures carbon dioxide levels, and
it's the only sure way to know whether you are over-breathing.
Feedback from a capnometer greatly facilitates learning to
breathe optimally. In my clinical experience, raising carbon dioxide levels (where they are low)
is virtually guaranteed to help you feel better.
Breathing biofeedback has a role to play in virtually all the conditions listed in
the What Does It Help? page.
York Mind-Body Health is based at York Science Park.
With free parking it is readily accessible to
residents of York, Leeds and the Yorkshire area.