Hyperventilation & Biofeedback

Hyperventilation

Hyperventilation or over-breathing can have important consequences. It 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.

It's a common, almost instinctive response to stress and anxiety. Under stress the breath tends to quicken and shift higher in the chest.

Carbon Dioxide & Why It Matters

The single most important factor in optimal breathing is carbon dioxide. Although it's 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 listed 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.