Date: 02/08/2008
We`ve all been brainwashed into thinking Oxygen is good and Carbon Dioxide is bad. It is impossible to know if you are breathing correctly without the use of a computerized capnograph that measures C02 level on an on-going breath by breath basis. Breathing rate and location (slow, deep), are mechanical issues that are not nearly as important as consciousness about yourself, what you are thinking, feeling and doing at a particular moment and how you are breathing. Slowing your exhalation is the most important aspect of breathing.
Are you breathing correctly? You were taught to breathe slowly and deeply and this has made you feel more relaxed. Do you know what your C02 level is? Do you know your 0xygen saturation level? You may have heard that inhaling slowly is good? How do you exhale? Yoga breathing is supposed to be good for you. Did you know that acid-base balance is more a factor of proper breathing than the food you eat? Breathing is natural. You can tell by looking at someone whether they are hyperventilating or not?
I will in this article attempt to address the above issues and explain why they may be mythical. There are numerous teachers of breathing offering their kind services and know nothing of Carbon Dioxide. I will start out by saying that the only way to know if you are breathing in a healthy way for your body is to know intimately your level of Carbon Dioxide in the expelled breath.
For many years teachers of breathing have extolled the benefits of slow, deep breathing. While it may be extremely beneficial to someone who is chest breathing, it may also not be leaving in the blood the needed level of Carbon Dioxide. I have measured many a slow deep breather and in most cases their CO2 is better than a chest breather. However, it is possible to breathe in slowly, blow out equally and retain a low level of CO2. This would still be called hyperventilation or over-breathing. Yes, it can happen with slow, deep breathing.
Our text books throughout our years of education have told us that Carbon Dioxide is bad and told us to get rid of as much as possible by breathing it all out. This notion has led us to think Carbon Dioxide is a bad thing and we should get rid of it. It is more or less correct that we should breathe it out with each exhalation, but the benefits of keeping a certain blood level of Carbon Dioxide on board is critical to Oxygen availability. The real truth about exhalation is we exhale not to get rid of carbon dioxide but to regulate the amount left in our bodies. Habitually bad breathing occurs when the way one breathes disrupts the proper regulation of C02 allocation. Unfortunately, most teachers of breathing are paying attention to the mechanics of breathing, where and how, or slow and deep, rather than the behavior and emotions associated with breathing. How do you breathe while you are thinking, feeling or doing?
Carbon Dioxide plays one of the most significant roles in body health and well-being. Our text books tell us that the normal blood level arterial PCO2 (PaCO2) of Carbon Dioxide should be 40mmHg. At this level the blood pH (H+ levels) will be normal at pH of 7.4. Improper, or over or under breathing, can cause these to change, causing the blood to become alkaline or acidic respectively. Eating to change blood pH is akin to a race between the tortoise and hare.
What does Carbon Dioxide do for the body? First and most important it regulates the distribution of Oxygen in the body. Second, it is the body`s relaxer. CO2 is the body`s way of dilating the arteries, especially those in the brain, the heart and the periphery (hands and feet). Thirty seconds of unaware over-breathing can cause the brain`s blood vessels to constrict up to 60%. In most cases, people who have cold hands and feet are hyperventilators and are giving off too much C02 with exhalation. Those with angina can effect the same result of taking nitroglycerine by exhaling correctly with two or more breaths done properly. I worked in a cardiology office and that cardiologist would refer all nitroglycerine patients to me to learn breathing. In Holland, legislation requires that all cardiac rehabilitation centers offer breathing training to cardiac patients. This has resulted in a documented savings of 45% savings over a 5 year period for heart attack patients.
In reality it is difficult to talk about the positive effects of the proper level of CO2 in the arterial blood as we are talking about ?healthy and normal?. The list of effects of lower levels of CO2 in the blood is incredibly long and gets longer and with more and more serious consequences as arterial CO2 level drops even more. In summary, higher levels (40mmHg) lead to normalization of the brain and body`s functions, to relaxation, and to better blood flow throughout the body, especially the brain, the heart and the periphery.
Well, if you are not getting enough oxygen, how about going to an oxygen bar? The response will only be momentary as you will return to your normal low level of CO2 and consequently lack of oxygen availability as soon as you return to your unconscious habit of over breathing, which should be almost immediately, as O2 is not a relaxer.
I am a nurse and I can honestly say we were never properly trained in this area, nor are the doctors. I have given many a talk on teaching breathing around the world and have never had a doctor not totally appreciate my information. I have read the respiratory text books doctors are trained with in medical school. Breathing is an incredibly complicated issue, mediated by need, habits (good and bad), by stress, by emotions, by training (yoga), by TV programs, by climate, allergies and so on. It is not a simple issue. Therefore, being aware and continually improving on that awareness is truly a life journey. You don`t learn it and then you`ve got it?. It is more likely that you have unlearned very early the good breathing you were born with if you were an average kid. In the United States most children by three years old are over-breathing.
Because breathing chemistry is so tied to continually changing circumstances, feelings, thoughts and actions, the demand for 02 is constantly changing as well. Fear, anger and stress habitually lead to over-breathing. Awareness is the only key we have to staying "as best we can" on target with proper breathing. With awareness, we need the knowledge of what to do, and then how to change our habitual breathing response to that situation in that moment. This requires an on-going awareness and this is rather impossible unless we are sitting in a cave with nothing else to do and no one to disturb our consciousness. We will never totally master this as we are human and are constantly affected by and dealing with life`s challenges. It is my belief though that breathing is the primary avenue to a higher consciousness and the more we can be aware, the more conscious we are.
What is your O2 level and what does it mean? Hospitals today are innovated with oximeters to measure your O2 level. They are using this equipment today in lieu of the old fashioned way, i.e., the nurse coming around, counting your respirations and blood pressure. The number of respirations per minute was essentially determined to be good or bad. If you were between the text book numbers of 12-20 you were ok, if lower or higher often times you would be visited by the head nurse who would recheck your vitals and perhaps call your doctor.
The pulse oximeter is being used today to measure oxygen saturation and number of respirations. Oxygen saturation is the amount of oxygen bound to hemoglobin in the blood expressed as a percentage of the maximal binding capacity. Now hospitals are using the pulse oximeter to determine this percentage of oxygen that is bound to hemoglobin. Do they know how to interpret it? It is generally thought to be good if the reading on the oximeter is 99%. After all, we have learned that 99 is better than 98, or 97 or 96 or 95. I certainly did when it came to grades and the difference in school between an A or B.
Well, unfortunately, nurses are not well trained in this area of breathing chemistry. A reading of 99% on the oximeter is indicating that your 02 is bound to hemoglobin and you are hyperventilating or over-breathing. Remember that over-breathing means decreased PCO2 and increased pH predispose oxygen to bind itself to hemoglobin, and thus, O2 in its full capacity is not available to the tissues. The higher the percentage on the oximeter, the more likely this is happening. So, conversely, increased PCO2 and reduced pH cause a release of Oxygen and nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator, resulting in increased blood vessel diameter, more volume flow and thus more oxygen to the cells. The whole process is far more complicated, but for a basic understanding for those who teach breathing and medical personal who use an oximeter, this is sufficient. In summary, the higher the percentage on an oximeter reading the more you are hyperventilating and most of your oxygen is bound to hemoglobin and not available to the tissues. Perhaps a percentage around 97 might indicate better health?
How do you breathe? Do you inhale quickly or slowly? Does it matter? Yes, it matters very much. When you are calm and relaxed and not expending energy, as in meditation, inhaling slowly is not problematic. When you are hiking up Mt. Everest, or even a hill back home, you may want to get the next mouthful (supply) of oxygen as quickly as possible. Let your body be your guide in terms of inhalation.
Exhalation is a different matter. There are many ways to exhale, a sigh or rapid exhale (also a hyperventilation), even exhale-to-inhale (as in most Yoga movements), breath-holding followed by a rapid exhale, an average rapid chest exhalation and so on. So what? Does it make a difference? Yes, but how significant is it? Actually, it may mean the difference between getting enough oxygen on a consistent basis or not. Notice how nearly everybody will tell someone who is stressed, just take a deep breath and breathe out slowly. Why? Because it is calming and intuitively we seem to know that. Why is it calming? Because blowing out slower raises the blood level of PCO2, thus unloading more oxygen off hemoglobin for performance and repairs of the body. CO2 is the body?s natural relaxer of smooth and cardiac muscle. This means the blood vessels dilate and receive more blood flow and oxygen. Brain blood flow is mediated possibly entirely by blood level of CO2. The heart is directly affected by C02 level but also mediated at times by other body chemicals such as ACTH, adrenalin, cortisone, etc.
How do most experts on breathing breathe? Some are diaphragmatic, slow exhalers and probably are doing well when they are conscious of their breathing. How do most Yoga practitioners breathe? Interestingly, very evenly. They have learned the habit of ?even? breathing from their practice of yoga. Even breathing produces over-breathing. Do nurses and doctors and just normal people breathe well? For the most part, statistics garnered from medical professionals, using a capnograph, are telling us that most people are not breathing well. Sixty percent of ambulance runs in the United States are a direct consequence of hyperventilation; thirty three percent of visits to a doctor?s office are because of symptoms generated usually long-term by hyperventilation. Having had a biofeedback/stress management practice, teaching breathing for many years, and working as a nurse, I can say with some assurance that migrainers, those with anxiety, most cardiac patients, those with cold hands, sleep apnea, pain, sleep problems, phobias, most pregnant women, asthmatics, and yoga teachers are nearly all hyperventilating or over-breathing. We have found the best breathers are babies and Tibetan lamas that chant san-scrit. These lamas spend hours per day chanting on a long exhalation. Their long exhalation becomes their habit of good breathing. This long exhalation keeps their C02 level elevated.
The ONLY way to know if you are breathing correctly is to use a capnograph to measure your blood level of CO2 or PCO2. Anything else is by inference only. Having measured many people, mostly normals and not patients,to our great surprise, most of the time one can not see hyperventilation. It is not like the movies with rapid chest heaving. Usually the person appears very calm. This myth of being able to detect by observation is one that is most important to dispel. With this myth exposed I feel breathing teachers can open to a new possibility. The only way to know or tell if a person is hyperventilating, excluding observing rapid chest breathing, is by using a capnograph to measure a person?s C02 level. The capnograph will tell you breath by breath your blood level of CO2. A capnograph displayed on a computer breath by breath over time is an invaluable tool. Modified for training it can serve to teach good breathing as well. If your CO2 level is 40 mmHg you are in good breathing health. Anything lower should be an incentive to learn more about breathing. In this article I have barely touched on the subject, trying to keep it simple, understandable and pertinent. I hope this has tweaked your interest and you will visit my website to read more articles in depth. Also, if you are a breathing teacher, please avail yourself of an instrument to measure CO2 level. Without it you are really shooting in the dark when teaching breathing to your clients.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS
http://TheMangoTreeSpa@gmail.com/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
TROUBLE FALLING ASLEEP AND SLEEP PROBLEMS
Date: 02/08/2008
What needs to happens to fall asleep? We fall asleep at night when we are relaxed, when our blood CO2 levels increase, and when our brain waves change toward an increase in the production of Alpha and Theta brain waves. In Stage 1 sleep the levels of Alpha decrease as levels of Theta brain waves increase. For those who understand EEGs, there will be bursts of activity at 14hz . This is a sensory motor rhythm. If if does not occur then sleep onset is usually difficult.
In EEG terms, if you don?t generate 15-18 hz or sufficient Beta brainwave and stage V sleep, you may have trouble staying asleep. This person goes through stages I, II, III and then hangs out in Delta, never getting into restorative REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. In stage IV sleep (REM), Theta, Alpha and Beta are all produced with little Delta. This is restorative sleep. Stage III is Delta sleep and is not restorative.
STAGE 1: In this stage the modulatory neurons become less active. On the EEG one will see declining levels of Alpha as Theta levels begin to increase. Awareness drifts and word based thinking ceases. Image based thinking may increase.
STAGE 2: NonREM sleep deepens in state two. The sensory motor rhythm (14hz) is required to move into this stage.
(People who have difficulty falling asleep need training in SMR or sensory rhythm production or perhaps 21hz.
Without the production of SMR these individuals will toss and turn, engage in mind chatter, have a racing mind and not be able to fall asleep.)
STAGE 3: Onset of REM sleep. Norepinephrine and serotonin are essentially shut down, while acetylcholine neurons are fully active. There is a drop down into Delta. Unless they can continue on into REM sleep they will not feel rested, restored, and instead, will wake feeling tired, groggy, and grumpy. They might just begin dreaming and then wake up into stage-one sleep, only slightly remembering their dreams.
STAGE 4 or REM sleep: This is dreaming sleep, when we are without muscle tone, paralyzed, and EEG is fast and eyes are moving back and forth (REM). When we are learning new things we spend more time in REM sleep. If interrupted, we remember less the next day. Acetylcholine during sleep seems to be the agent of remembering. On the EEG one will see high levels of Alpha, Theta and Beta, but not much Delta. Those who don?t make Beta will have difficulty waking and will feel drugged and need their ?caffeine?.
Sleep drugs usually have a two week cycle before one becomes sensitized and needs more. Effectiveness of these drugs is usually based on sleep improvement. Questions to ask yourself about sleep are:
Do you fall asleep easily?
How long does it take to fall asleep?
Do you wake frequently and are you able or unable to fall back to sleep?
Do you dream?
Do you remember your dreams?
Do you feel rested after a night?s sleep?
Do you feel fatigued and feel like you have to drag yourself out of bed?
Waking frequently in a dream indicates a return to beta during dreaming. This is usually the mother who hears her baby crying, the ?light-sleeper? who reports waking to the slightest noise, movement, provocation, etc. While sometimes necessary, getting out of this habit once beyond the need for it may require some training to break the habit. What is probably taking place here is the lack of periodicity or normal 90 minute cycling through the 4-6 sleep periods during the night. This interferes with the normal restorative process of sleep. Using earplugs, white noise, ocean waves, a fan, air-conditioner can help to break this pattern. One clue to identifying this pattern is a report that they ?always wake-up? at such and such a time?.
One of the most important aspects about falling asleep is blood CO2 level. As we rest and relax and arterial CO2 increases, we get sleepy and that is when we fall asleep.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. CO2 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
What needs to happens to fall asleep? We fall asleep at night when we are relaxed, when our blood CO2 levels increase, and when our brain waves change toward an increase in the production of Alpha and Theta brain waves. In Stage 1 sleep the levels of Alpha decrease as levels of Theta brain waves increase. For those who understand EEGs, there will be bursts of activity at 14hz . This is a sensory motor rhythm. If if does not occur then sleep onset is usually difficult.
In EEG terms, if you don?t generate 15-18 hz or sufficient Beta brainwave and stage V sleep, you may have trouble staying asleep. This person goes through stages I, II, III and then hangs out in Delta, never getting into restorative REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. In stage IV sleep (REM), Theta, Alpha and Beta are all produced with little Delta. This is restorative sleep. Stage III is Delta sleep and is not restorative.
STAGE 1: In this stage the modulatory neurons become less active. On the EEG one will see declining levels of Alpha as Theta levels begin to increase. Awareness drifts and word based thinking ceases. Image based thinking may increase.
STAGE 2: NonREM sleep deepens in state two. The sensory motor rhythm (14hz) is required to move into this stage.
(People who have difficulty falling asleep need training in SMR or sensory rhythm production or perhaps 21hz.
Without the production of SMR these individuals will toss and turn, engage in mind chatter, have a racing mind and not be able to fall asleep.)
STAGE 3: Onset of REM sleep. Norepinephrine and serotonin are essentially shut down, while acetylcholine neurons are fully active. There is a drop down into Delta. Unless they can continue on into REM sleep they will not feel rested, restored, and instead, will wake feeling tired, groggy, and grumpy. They might just begin dreaming and then wake up into stage-one sleep, only slightly remembering their dreams.
STAGE 4 or REM sleep: This is dreaming sleep, when we are without muscle tone, paralyzed, and EEG is fast and eyes are moving back and forth (REM). When we are learning new things we spend more time in REM sleep. If interrupted, we remember less the next day. Acetylcholine during sleep seems to be the agent of remembering. On the EEG one will see high levels of Alpha, Theta and Beta, but not much Delta. Those who don?t make Beta will have difficulty waking and will feel drugged and need their ?caffeine?.
Sleep drugs usually have a two week cycle before one becomes sensitized and needs more. Effectiveness of these drugs is usually based on sleep improvement. Questions to ask yourself about sleep are:
Do you fall asleep easily?
How long does it take to fall asleep?
Do you wake frequently and are you able or unable to fall back to sleep?
Do you dream?
Do you remember your dreams?
Do you feel rested after a night?s sleep?
Do you feel fatigued and feel like you have to drag yourself out of bed?
Waking frequently in a dream indicates a return to beta during dreaming. This is usually the mother who hears her baby crying, the ?light-sleeper? who reports waking to the slightest noise, movement, provocation, etc. While sometimes necessary, getting out of this habit once beyond the need for it may require some training to break the habit. What is probably taking place here is the lack of periodicity or normal 90 minute cycling through the 4-6 sleep periods during the night. This interferes with the normal restorative process of sleep. Using earplugs, white noise, ocean waves, a fan, air-conditioner can help to break this pattern. One clue to identifying this pattern is a report that they ?always wake-up? at such and such a time?.
One of the most important aspects about falling asleep is blood CO2 level. As we rest and relax and arterial CO2 increases, we get sleepy and that is when we fall asleep.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. CO2 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
WHAT IS SLEEP?
Date: 02/08/2008
What is sleep? Most of our information on sleep has come from EEG?s. On the average we spend one-third of our lives sleeping or 8 hours each night. While the amount of sleep required by individuals actually varies considerably, the figure of 8 hours may have come from Sir Thomas Mores Utopia. In a classic bell curve of sleep the range is from 4.5 to 10.5 hours. The length of sleep does not seem to correlate with intelligence or personality. Thomas Edison and Napoleon slept only a few hours, Einstein slept for long periods and Michael Angelo took 15-minute catnaps every hour. Up until age ten, we sleep 25 percent more than the rest of our lives. This is also when most learning takes place. In total we sleep one third of our lives.
Sleep is necessary for learning and consolidation of information. While not fully explained, sleep is thought to be related to brain restoration and consolidation of new learning. The hippocampus seems to be involved in this process and receives increased levels of acetylcholine during sleep. We spend more time in REM sleep when we are learning new things. Interrupted REM sleep causes us to remember less well the next day. There is much controversy on whether we learn as we are falling off to sleep. Apparently, information needs to already be in the system.
What is REM sleep? This is a stage of desynchronized sleep when all muscle tone is lost, where the EEG is firing in a fast manner (much as in wakefulness), rapid eye movement occurs (REM), and sleepers are difficult to wake.
When does dreaming occur? Dreaming occurs during REM sleep. The sleeper is very much in a paralyzed state. If awakened during REM sleep, dream recall is 80 to 95 percent. Those who awake at other times dont recall their dreams.
Normal sleepers go through regular cycles of REM sleep alternating with four levels of non-REM sleep.
The important thing about sleep is regulation. How much may not be as much the issue as regular and enough for us as individuals as being more important an issue. Sleep deprivation studies have shown that without sleep, death will occur within 4-6 weeks. Body weight and temperature are seriously dis-regulated by lack of sleep. Without sleep our thermoregulation goes haywire. Sleep is also an energy and heat conserving response of our being. Studies by J. Kiecolt-Glasser have shown a decreased ability to resist infection with improper, lack-of, or stressful sleep. Sleep is a dramatic condition during which memories are consolidated, restorative hormones released, and neuronal excitability modulated. Regulated sleep is important.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. C02 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing. http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
What is sleep? Most of our information on sleep has come from EEG?s. On the average we spend one-third of our lives sleeping or 8 hours each night. While the amount of sleep required by individuals actually varies considerably, the figure of 8 hours may have come from Sir Thomas Mores Utopia. In a classic bell curve of sleep the range is from 4.5 to 10.5 hours. The length of sleep does not seem to correlate with intelligence or personality. Thomas Edison and Napoleon slept only a few hours, Einstein slept for long periods and Michael Angelo took 15-minute catnaps every hour. Up until age ten, we sleep 25 percent more than the rest of our lives. This is also when most learning takes place. In total we sleep one third of our lives.
Sleep is necessary for learning and consolidation of information. While not fully explained, sleep is thought to be related to brain restoration and consolidation of new learning. The hippocampus seems to be involved in this process and receives increased levels of acetylcholine during sleep. We spend more time in REM sleep when we are learning new things. Interrupted REM sleep causes us to remember less well the next day. There is much controversy on whether we learn as we are falling off to sleep. Apparently, information needs to already be in the system.
What is REM sleep? This is a stage of desynchronized sleep when all muscle tone is lost, where the EEG is firing in a fast manner (much as in wakefulness), rapid eye movement occurs (REM), and sleepers are difficult to wake.
When does dreaming occur? Dreaming occurs during REM sleep. The sleeper is very much in a paralyzed state. If awakened during REM sleep, dream recall is 80 to 95 percent. Those who awake at other times dont recall their dreams.
Normal sleepers go through regular cycles of REM sleep alternating with four levels of non-REM sleep.
The important thing about sleep is regulation. How much may not be as much the issue as regular and enough for us as individuals as being more important an issue. Sleep deprivation studies have shown that without sleep, death will occur within 4-6 weeks. Body weight and temperature are seriously dis-regulated by lack of sleep. Without sleep our thermoregulation goes haywire. Sleep is also an energy and heat conserving response of our being. Studies by J. Kiecolt-Glasser have shown a decreased ability to resist infection with improper, lack-of, or stressful sleep. Sleep is a dramatic condition during which memories are consolidated, restorative hormones released, and neuronal excitability modulated. Regulated sleep is important.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. C02 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing. http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
CO2 AND FALLING ASLEEP: THE STAGES OF SLEEP AND WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE ON A PET SCAN
Date: 02/08/2008
Normal sleepers go through regular cycles of REM sleep alternating with four levels of nonREM sleep.
WAKEFULLNESS:? The brain is bathed in constant levels of neurotransmitters, norepinephrine and serotonin with spikes of acetylcholine under novel conditions.
SLEEP:
STAGE 1: In this stage the modulatory neurons become less active. On the EEG one will see declining levels of Alpha as Theta levels begin to increase. Awareness drifts and word based thinking ceases.? Image based thinking may increase.
STAGE 2:? NonREM sleep deepens in state two. The sensory motor rhythm (14hz) is required to move into this stage.
(People who have difficulty falling asleep need training in SMR or perhaps 21hz.
Without the production of SMR these individuals will toss and turn, engage in mind chatter, have a racing mind and not be able to fall asleep.)
STAGE 3:Onset of REM sleep. Norepinephrine and serotonin are essentially shut down, while acetylcholine neurons are fully active. There is a drop down into Delta. Unless they can continue on into REM sleep they will not feel rested, restored, and instead, will wake feeling tired, groggy, and grumpy. They might just begin dreaming and then wake up into stage-one sleep, only slightly remembering their dreams.
STAGE 4 or REM sleep: This is dreaming sleep, when we are without muscle tone, paralyzed, and EEG is fast and eyes are moving back and forth (REM). When we are learning new things we spend more time in REM sleep.If interrupted, we remember less the next day.? Acetylcholine during sleep seems to be the agent of remembering. On the EEG one will see high levels of Alpha, Theta and Beta, but not much Delta. Those who dont make Beta will have difficulty waking and will feel drugged and need their caffeine.
In a typical 8-hour sleep period, 20-25 percent will be spent in REM sleep and the rest in nonREM sleep.? Normals cycle the above stages 4-6 times throughout the night. REM begins in the first round about 60-80 minutes after falling asleep. The stages repeat after about 10 minutes of REM. With each cycling the REM periods increase and nonREM decreases. This is why most dreams occur in the early morning hours. The average 70 year old has spent 6 years dreaming.
WAKEFULLNESS STAGE 1 STAGE 11 STAGE 111 STAGE 1V
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. C02 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Normal sleepers go through regular cycles of REM sleep alternating with four levels of nonREM sleep.
WAKEFULLNESS:? The brain is bathed in constant levels of neurotransmitters, norepinephrine and serotonin with spikes of acetylcholine under novel conditions.
SLEEP:
STAGE 1: In this stage the modulatory neurons become less active. On the EEG one will see declining levels of Alpha as Theta levels begin to increase. Awareness drifts and word based thinking ceases.? Image based thinking may increase.
STAGE 2:? NonREM sleep deepens in state two. The sensory motor rhythm (14hz) is required to move into this stage.
(People who have difficulty falling asleep need training in SMR or perhaps 21hz.
Without the production of SMR these individuals will toss and turn, engage in mind chatter, have a racing mind and not be able to fall asleep.)
STAGE 3:Onset of REM sleep. Norepinephrine and serotonin are essentially shut down, while acetylcholine neurons are fully active. There is a drop down into Delta. Unless they can continue on into REM sleep they will not feel rested, restored, and instead, will wake feeling tired, groggy, and grumpy. They might just begin dreaming and then wake up into stage-one sleep, only slightly remembering their dreams.
STAGE 4 or REM sleep: This is dreaming sleep, when we are without muscle tone, paralyzed, and EEG is fast and eyes are moving back and forth (REM). When we are learning new things we spend more time in REM sleep.If interrupted, we remember less the next day.? Acetylcholine during sleep seems to be the agent of remembering. On the EEG one will see high levels of Alpha, Theta and Beta, but not much Delta. Those who dont make Beta will have difficulty waking and will feel drugged and need their caffeine.
In a typical 8-hour sleep period, 20-25 percent will be spent in REM sleep and the rest in nonREM sleep.? Normals cycle the above stages 4-6 times throughout the night. REM begins in the first round about 60-80 minutes after falling asleep. The stages repeat after about 10 minutes of REM. With each cycling the REM periods increase and nonREM decreases. This is why most dreams occur in the early morning hours. The average 70 year old has spent 6 years dreaming.
WAKEFULLNESS STAGE 1 STAGE 11 STAGE 111 STAGE 1V
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
An elevation in blood CO2 level is important for falling asleep, staying asleep and sleeping well. C02 is important for relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
CAPNOTRAINER
Capno Trainer
For observing, evaluating, and learning breathing behavior
A break-through product! The ultimate in breathing education!
Did you know that allocation of carbon dioxide, through breathing, directly regulates body pH, electrolyte balance, blood distribution, hemoglobin chemistry, and kidney function?
A MUST FOR ALL THOSE WHO DO BREATHING TRAINING!
capno trainer $3000.00
Detect bad breathing and learn good breathing with the CapnoTrainer ®.
Learned overbreathing behavior leads to exhaling too much CO2,
resulting in extracellular alkalinity. Shifts in pH may account for “unexplained” symptoms, psychological changes, effects of stress, and performance deficits.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Use the CapnoTrainer® for detecting bad breathing behavior and leaming good breathing behavior.
*Pinpoint optimal breathing mechanics for acid-base balance.
*Discover the tríggers for good and bad breathing pattems.
*See how thoughts, moods, and emottons are changed by breathing.
*Learn how mental and physical performance is alterad by breathing.
*Evalúate the effects of breathing on leaming, memory, and attention.
*See how breathing behavior and defensiveness may be reiated.
*Examine how pain, injury, discomfort, and breathing may be linked.
*Discover how breathing may be mediating unexplained symptoms.
*A Test for anaerobia threshold during fitness training by monitoring CO2.
*Use breathing as a way of exploring awareness and consciousness.
*Lean what good and bad breathing behaviors feel like.
*Help people overcome their fears about breathing.
*Teach embracement through breathing and heart varíability training.
*Learn to breathe intuitively, inside-out, rather than prescríptively, outside-in.
If you are an educator, trainer, coach, or therapist, the CapnoTrainer® serves as an important adjunctive tool.
peak performance training, relaxation training, attention training, alertness training, meditation, patient educatíon, stress management, childbirth training, motivational training, public speaking, leaming enhancement, anxiety management (e.g., testing), anger management, mastering performance challenges (e.g., in aviation), athletic training, and breathing training of all kinds.
Overbreathing (CO2 deficit) can cause, trigger, or exacerbate physical symptoms, performance deficits, and psychological complaints.
shortness of breath, breathlessness, chest tightness/pressure, chest pain, feelings of suffocation, sweaty palms, cold hands, tingling of the skin, numbness, heart palpitations, irregular heart beat, anxiety, apprehension, emotional outbursts, stress, tenseness, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, dry mouth, nausea, light-headedness, dizziness, fainting, black-out, blurred visión, confusión, disorientatbn, attention deficit, poor thinking, poor memory, poor concentration, impaired judgment, problem solving deficit, reduced pain threshold, headache, trembling, twitching, shivering, muscle tension, spasm, stiffness, abdominal cramps, and bloatedness.
In predlsposed individuals, overbreathing (CO2 deficit) can trigger or exacerbate acute and chronic conditions:
phobias (e.g., public speaking), migraine phenomena, hypertension, attentíon disorder, asthma attacks, angina attacks, heart attacks, panic attacks, hypoglycemia, ischemia (e.g., tissue hypoxia), depression, epileptic seizures, sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbances, allergy, irritable bowel syndrome, repetitive strain injury, and chronic fatigue.
RESTRICTED USE:
The CapnoTrainer is an educational instrument designed for enhancing performance through leaming and teaching good breathing behavior. It is not intended for medical diagnosis or treatment.
SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS
The software runs on PC computers and operates within Windows 98 (second edition), Millennium, 2000, NT, XP, and Vista environments.
Observe the following physiology:
CO2 waveform, in mmHg: airflow pattern Breathing rhythmicity: breath holding, gasping, End-tidal C02(ETC02), in mmHg: overbreathing, Coordinating breath: rate and depth, Breathing rate averages, in breaths per minute
Heart Rate, beat to beat calculations: heart rate variability, Breathing Heart Wave (BHW): parasympathetic tone, BHW amplitude, in beats per minute: degree of relaxation, Heart Rate (HR) averages (traditional measurement)
Advanced Optlon for HRV training:
Multiple heart wave frequencies (HF/LFA/LF) Frequency analysis of heart rate variability (HRV DFT) Differential autonomic nervous system measurements
SOFTWARE FEATURES
*Signals displayed alone and in multiple combinations, Signals displayed in multiple graphic formats
*Live history screens, showing whole or part of session Evaluation, training, and observational screens
*Multi-graph and multi-signal data review screens
*Zoom function, select graph & signal, Gain & Auto-gain, Signal offset & Auto-center *Screen sweep time, slower/faster, Freeze screen immediately, Pause screen, end of sweep *Refresh screen, Signal hiding, Averaging function
*Set signal threshold & auto-threshold
*Audio feedback for signal changes (options menu), Event marker, draws line and records note
*Select predefined task periods, e.g., baseline
*Data recording on/off, pause, and erase
*Print screen opttons, Uve or recorded data screens
*Save "screen feature" adjustments to trainee name
*Save sessions to "trainee" files/names
*Setect from among easy to use graphical data reports
*Review recorded data in "tape recorder" fashion
*Review, formal, and save graphical reports as desired
*Digital cursor for numerícal readout on graphs
*Generate automatic Quick reports and Excel reports
*Select predefined evaluation and training schedules
*Define your own automated task schedules
*Use built-in breathing questionnaire form
*View HELP Windows for education and teaching
*Read detailed INFO HELP screens for each screen display
Please contact us if you would like more information or would like to purchase this machine. 506 2786 5300 info@themangotreespa.com
For observing, evaluating, and learning breathing behavior
A break-through product! The ultimate in breathing education!
Did you know that allocation of carbon dioxide, through breathing, directly regulates body pH, electrolyte balance, blood distribution, hemoglobin chemistry, and kidney function?
A MUST FOR ALL THOSE WHO DO BREATHING TRAINING!
capno trainer $3000.00
Detect bad breathing and learn good breathing with the CapnoTrainer ®.
Learned overbreathing behavior leads to exhaling too much CO2,
resulting in extracellular alkalinity. Shifts in pH may account for “unexplained” symptoms, psychological changes, effects of stress, and performance deficits.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Use the CapnoTrainer® for detecting bad breathing behavior and leaming good breathing behavior.
*Pinpoint optimal breathing mechanics for acid-base balance.
*Discover the tríggers for good and bad breathing pattems.
*See how thoughts, moods, and emottons are changed by breathing.
*Learn how mental and physical performance is alterad by breathing.
*Evalúate the effects of breathing on leaming, memory, and attention.
*See how breathing behavior and defensiveness may be reiated.
*Examine how pain, injury, discomfort, and breathing may be linked.
*Discover how breathing may be mediating unexplained symptoms.
*A Test for anaerobia threshold during fitness training by monitoring CO2.
*Use breathing as a way of exploring awareness and consciousness.
*Lean what good and bad breathing behaviors feel like.
*Help people overcome their fears about breathing.
*Teach embracement through breathing and heart varíability training.
*Learn to breathe intuitively, inside-out, rather than prescríptively, outside-in.
If you are an educator, trainer, coach, or therapist, the CapnoTrainer® serves as an important adjunctive tool.
peak performance training, relaxation training, attention training, alertness training, meditation, patient educatíon, stress management, childbirth training, motivational training, public speaking, leaming enhancement, anxiety management (e.g., testing), anger management, mastering performance challenges (e.g., in aviation), athletic training, and breathing training of all kinds.
Overbreathing (CO2 deficit) can cause, trigger, or exacerbate physical symptoms, performance deficits, and psychological complaints.
shortness of breath, breathlessness, chest tightness/pressure, chest pain, feelings of suffocation, sweaty palms, cold hands, tingling of the skin, numbness, heart palpitations, irregular heart beat, anxiety, apprehension, emotional outbursts, stress, tenseness, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, dry mouth, nausea, light-headedness, dizziness, fainting, black-out, blurred visión, confusión, disorientatbn, attention deficit, poor thinking, poor memory, poor concentration, impaired judgment, problem solving deficit, reduced pain threshold, headache, trembling, twitching, shivering, muscle tension, spasm, stiffness, abdominal cramps, and bloatedness.
In predlsposed individuals, overbreathing (CO2 deficit) can trigger or exacerbate acute and chronic conditions:
phobias (e.g., public speaking), migraine phenomena, hypertension, attentíon disorder, asthma attacks, angina attacks, heart attacks, panic attacks, hypoglycemia, ischemia (e.g., tissue hypoxia), depression, epileptic seizures, sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbances, allergy, irritable bowel syndrome, repetitive strain injury, and chronic fatigue.
RESTRICTED USE:
The CapnoTrainer is an educational instrument designed for enhancing performance through leaming and teaching good breathing behavior. It is not intended for medical diagnosis or treatment.
SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS
The software runs on PC computers and operates within Windows 98 (second edition), Millennium, 2000, NT, XP, and Vista environments.
Observe the following physiology:
CO2 waveform, in mmHg: airflow pattern Breathing rhythmicity: breath holding, gasping, End-tidal C02(ETC02), in mmHg: overbreathing, Coordinating breath: rate and depth, Breathing rate averages, in breaths per minute
Heart Rate, beat to beat calculations: heart rate variability, Breathing Heart Wave (BHW): parasympathetic tone, BHW amplitude, in beats per minute: degree of relaxation, Heart Rate (HR) averages (traditional measurement)
Advanced Optlon for HRV training:
Multiple heart wave frequencies (HF/LFA/LF) Frequency analysis of heart rate variability (HRV DFT) Differential autonomic nervous system measurements
SOFTWARE FEATURES
*Signals displayed alone and in multiple combinations, Signals displayed in multiple graphic formats
*Live history screens, showing whole or part of session Evaluation, training, and observational screens
*Multi-graph and multi-signal data review screens
*Zoom function, select graph & signal, Gain & Auto-gain, Signal offset & Auto-center *Screen sweep time, slower/faster, Freeze screen immediately, Pause screen, end of sweep *Refresh screen, Signal hiding, Averaging function
*Set signal threshold & auto-threshold
*Audio feedback for signal changes (options menu), Event marker, draws line and records note
*Select predefined task periods, e.g., baseline
*Data recording on/off, pause, and erase
*Print screen opttons, Uve or recorded data screens
*Save "screen feature" adjustments to trainee name
*Save sessions to "trainee" files/names
*Setect from among easy to use graphical data reports
*Review recorded data in "tape recorder" fashion
*Review, formal, and save graphical reports as desired
*Digital cursor for numerícal readout on graphs
*Generate automatic Quick reports and Excel reports
*Select predefined evaluation and training schedules
*Define your own automated task schedules
*Use built-in breathing questionnaire form
*View HELP Windows for education and teaching
*Read detailed INFO HELP screens for each screen display
Please contact us if you would like more information or would like to purchase this machine. 506 2786 5300 info@themangotreespa.com
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES OF OXYGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES OF OXYGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
The presence of sufficient carbon dioxide in the body helps oxygen get released into the cells. Let me explain. When you breathe in air, oxygen enters your lungs where it attaches itself to iron forming the molecule hemoglobin. As hemoglobin, oxygen gets transported through your body. Now, oxygen is strongly attached to hemoglobin. If you were ever an anxiety (blood level of C02 around 25-30mmHg) or panic patient (blood level of C02 between 20-30mmHg) perhaps your doctor told you to breathe into a brown paper bag. What would you be breathing? You would be re-breathing your Carbon Dioxide that you had breathed out. So, you would be breathing mostly Carbon Dioxide. Why do this? Your blood level is saturated with Oxygen from over-breathing, and your arterial carbon dioxide level is too low. When you breathe a bag full of carbon dioxide you will raise your blood level of C02 to a higher level (40mmHg is normal) and now the Oxygen that is attached to the hemoglobin molecule can be EXCHNGED for C02.
Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen are symbiotic, co-dependent gases upon which our lives intimately depend. If oxygen level goes up as in over-breathing, Carbon Dioxide goes down by means of exhalation, oxygen will remain attached to iron as hemoglobin and be unavailable to the tissues. If C02 goes up through retention or slowed exhalation, then more oxygen will unload off hemoglobin and be available to your tissues in your arterial blood.
How can we know this? Can it be measured? Can we consciously learn to adjust this equation if need be? The answer to all three is, yes, we can become aware, we can measure it and we can consciously adjust the equation.
The only way to absolutely know if you are over-breathing or not is to measure your blood gases. There are two machines that can be used: an oximeter that measures oxygen level and a capnograph that measures Carbon Dioxide levels breath by breath. Using an oximeter by itself can be somewhat misleading unless you understand the ratios of Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide. Hospitals are now using Oximeters to know about someone`s breathing and unfortunately, very few have the background to interpret a correct reading. Many think an Oxygen saturation reading of 99% is good. Instead it means you are hyperventilating.
The correct machine to measure and infer information from is a capnograph. This machine is not as easy to build as the oximeter as it requires very delicate parts. A Dr. Peter Litchfield in Colorado has had a machine built for the lay person to use on their computer. This machine is very user friendly, the accompanying material is very informative, and Dr. Litchfield has developed classes for breathing certification as well. His approach is innovative and puts a very different slant on the whole subject of breathing awareness. The important thing is you can hook yourself up while sitting or lying or performing stationary exercises and monitor your breathing for any length of time. This is much like a 24 hour blood pressure monitor for really discovering if you have blood pressure. Most important, the capno-trainer averages CO2 level, rate of breathing, Heart Rate Variability and includes several programs for monitoring and guiding your breathing for training purposes.
When this machine was first introduced I was thrilled to discover it. I had researched many medical companies looking for a capnograph that could give feedback on C02 level breath by breath. I had taken two groups to climb to 20,000 feet in the Mt. Everest area doing breathing research and could not find such a machine. When the capno-trainer was introduced I made a most interesting discovery. I was shocked at how many "normal looking" individuals who showed no signs of respiratory distress were over-breathing. Yoga teachers were some of the worst breathers as most learn to "even-breathe".
As the issue of being able to consciously intervene to change your breathing I will for the purposes of this short paper on C02 and 02 tell you to deep breathe into the diaphragm and slow your exhale. There is much more to the learning of these practices. On my web site I have a two hour teaching session on "How to Teach Proper Breathing" that goes into this subject in detail.
Please visit my website for many more articles on the subject of breathing and other issues and for information on the Capno-trainer and how you can get one.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
The presence of sufficient carbon dioxide in the body helps oxygen get released into the cells. Let me explain. When you breathe in air, oxygen enters your lungs where it attaches itself to iron forming the molecule hemoglobin. As hemoglobin, oxygen gets transported through your body. Now, oxygen is strongly attached to hemoglobin. If you were ever an anxiety (blood level of C02 around 25-30mmHg) or panic patient (blood level of C02 between 20-30mmHg) perhaps your doctor told you to breathe into a brown paper bag. What would you be breathing? You would be re-breathing your Carbon Dioxide that you had breathed out. So, you would be breathing mostly Carbon Dioxide. Why do this? Your blood level is saturated with Oxygen from over-breathing, and your arterial carbon dioxide level is too low. When you breathe a bag full of carbon dioxide you will raise your blood level of C02 to a higher level (40mmHg is normal) and now the Oxygen that is attached to the hemoglobin molecule can be EXCHNGED for C02.
Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen are symbiotic, co-dependent gases upon which our lives intimately depend. If oxygen level goes up as in over-breathing, Carbon Dioxide goes down by means of exhalation, oxygen will remain attached to iron as hemoglobin and be unavailable to the tissues. If C02 goes up through retention or slowed exhalation, then more oxygen will unload off hemoglobin and be available to your tissues in your arterial blood.
How can we know this? Can it be measured? Can we consciously learn to adjust this equation if need be? The answer to all three is, yes, we can become aware, we can measure it and we can consciously adjust the equation.
The only way to absolutely know if you are over-breathing or not is to measure your blood gases. There are two machines that can be used: an oximeter that measures oxygen level and a capnograph that measures Carbon Dioxide levels breath by breath. Using an oximeter by itself can be somewhat misleading unless you understand the ratios of Oxygen to Carbon Dioxide. Hospitals are now using Oximeters to know about someone`s breathing and unfortunately, very few have the background to interpret a correct reading. Many think an Oxygen saturation reading of 99% is good. Instead it means you are hyperventilating.
The correct machine to measure and infer information from is a capnograph. This machine is not as easy to build as the oximeter as it requires very delicate parts. A Dr. Peter Litchfield in Colorado has had a machine built for the lay person to use on their computer. This machine is very user friendly, the accompanying material is very informative, and Dr. Litchfield has developed classes for breathing certification as well. His approach is innovative and puts a very different slant on the whole subject of breathing awareness. The important thing is you can hook yourself up while sitting or lying or performing stationary exercises and monitor your breathing for any length of time. This is much like a 24 hour blood pressure monitor for really discovering if you have blood pressure. Most important, the capno-trainer averages CO2 level, rate of breathing, Heart Rate Variability and includes several programs for monitoring and guiding your breathing for training purposes.
When this machine was first introduced I was thrilled to discover it. I had researched many medical companies looking for a capnograph that could give feedback on C02 level breath by breath. I had taken two groups to climb to 20,000 feet in the Mt. Everest area doing breathing research and could not find such a machine. When the capno-trainer was introduced I made a most interesting discovery. I was shocked at how many "normal looking" individuals who showed no signs of respiratory distress were over-breathing. Yoga teachers were some of the worst breathers as most learn to "even-breathe".
As the issue of being able to consciously intervene to change your breathing I will for the purposes of this short paper on C02 and 02 tell you to deep breathe into the diaphragm and slow your exhale. There is much more to the learning of these practices. On my web site I have a two hour teaching session on "How to Teach Proper Breathing" that goes into this subject in detail.
Please visit my website for many more articles on the subject of breathing and other issues and for information on the Capno-trainer and how you can get one.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
LEARNING 2:1 BREATHING as A FUNCTION OF PROPER BREATHING
Date: 02/08/2008
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
What is "proper breathing" and how do I do it? Proper breathing is both deep diaphragmatic breathing which promotes a relaxed, parasympathetic state, and also involves a slower rate of exhalation. For example, think of breathing in to a count of 3 and exhaling to a count of 6.
Maybe we should be breathing this way most of the time, not just when we are practicing relaxation. This is slow, deep breathing.
To begin learning this 2:1 ratio of breathing in to breathing out, practice this rate when you are focused and are essentially at rest. You can`t worry about it at other times. Changing a very basic learned habit such as breathing rate may well be a life-time occupation. You will never learn it and not ever regress. Over-breathing has its purpose as well.
The body will adjust the rate during other activities. At first, exaggerate the exercise and really try to breathe very slowly and consciously during practice. This will carry over into a more comfortable rate during autonomic breathing.
First to learn to diaphragmatically breathe. Imagine you have a large balloon in your stomach below the diaphragm. Inhale into that balloon, allowing your stomach to move outward, downward or even sideways. Once full, exhale slowly through pursed lips. Pretend you are exhaling through a straw and very slowly let the air out as the stomach deflates. You can even use the stomach muscles to draw the stomach in. This is actually a better exercise to strengthen the stomach muscles than holding your stomach in all the time. Getting in touch with those stomach muscles can be difficult for many. We usually breathe in in exactly the opposite manner, inhaling and drawing our stomach in and when exhaling letting our stomach out. This is "backward breathing".
At first. for learning purposes, you can only be attentive to this when you are focused, resting and practicing. Your practice time has to be devoted to this one issue. If not, and not practiced many times a day, you probably won`t learn it. Remember, what you do enough becomes learned. Some say it takes a year to break an old habit. Physical therapists say you have to exercise an injured, unexercised muscle every hour and a half to have it gain the awareness of the new behavior you wish it to learn. I am hoping with dedication and practice you will learn it. You have to practice the change in behavior very frequently if you expect it to become natural and even then you have to stay on top of it and your reaction to events, people and things. Practicing once a day will not equal learning.
To jump start the process, I recommend you use a timer or watch that you can set to remind you every 15 minutes to tune into your breathing and practice for a few minutes. You could put a pop up reminder on your computer as well if you spend much time there.
When one begins to breathe this way, many body changes begin to take place. Heart rate drops, blood pressure drops, muscle tension decreases. In fact, deep abdominal breathing and muscle tension are incompatible. Think of the tense posture of someone sitting in a dental chair, "breath-holding" while gripping the arms of the dental chair with their tense, blanched hands and knuckles. You can"t do that with deep abdominal breathing. They just don`t go together.
When you breathe deeply and exhale slowly, GI (gastrointestinal) function tends to normalize. If someone is pretty tense and uptight and carries their stomach drawn in, then breathing this way causes a nice calm increase in stomach wall movement and this stimulates a gentle peristalsis. This tends to work for the person who is constipated. For the individual who experiences diarrhea frequently, this breathing technique is very effective. Take for instance the "anxious stomach-responder" to stress. Let`s say this person is having to give a presentation and is having a case of stage freight. Because the person is perceiving the audience as a threat (sympathetic arousal), the brain sends an autonomic message to the gut (in gut responders to stress) to increase peristalsis. The gut accommodates by increasing peristalsis causing increased evacuation, all to the biological end of allowing the organism to survive by being better able to run or fight better. We can ultimately run or fight better with an empty stomach and gastrointestinal tract.
Finally, if done properly, with this slow, deep breathing, we will experience an increase in hand temperature up in the range of 94-96 degrees. Biologically, we can afford to have warm hands if we are safe. If not safe, and we are subject to a threat attack, we would put our hands and or feet out in front of us to protect our selves. If we were assaulted and wounded, we might bleed to death. Again, because biology dictates our survival, under stress or perceived stress, our brain sends a message to our periphery (hands and feet) and tells the blood vessels to constrict. Our hands and feet get cold. Warm hands and deep breathing go together. Cold hands and chest breathing also go together. Biologically, by virtue of breathing deeply we are cueing our brain to know that we are safe, we can relax, and let blood flow to the periphery.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
What is "proper breathing" and how do I do it? Proper breathing is both deep diaphragmatic breathing which promotes a relaxed, parasympathetic state, and also involves a slower rate of exhalation. For example, think of breathing in to a count of 3 and exhaling to a count of 6.
Maybe we should be breathing this way most of the time, not just when we are practicing relaxation. This is slow, deep breathing.
To begin learning this 2:1 ratio of breathing in to breathing out, practice this rate when you are focused and are essentially at rest. You can`t worry about it at other times. Changing a very basic learned habit such as breathing rate may well be a life-time occupation. You will never learn it and not ever regress. Over-breathing has its purpose as well.
The body will adjust the rate during other activities. At first, exaggerate the exercise and really try to breathe very slowly and consciously during practice. This will carry over into a more comfortable rate during autonomic breathing.
First to learn to diaphragmatically breathe. Imagine you have a large balloon in your stomach below the diaphragm. Inhale into that balloon, allowing your stomach to move outward, downward or even sideways. Once full, exhale slowly through pursed lips. Pretend you are exhaling through a straw and very slowly let the air out as the stomach deflates. You can even use the stomach muscles to draw the stomach in. This is actually a better exercise to strengthen the stomach muscles than holding your stomach in all the time. Getting in touch with those stomach muscles can be difficult for many. We usually breathe in in exactly the opposite manner, inhaling and drawing our stomach in and when exhaling letting our stomach out. This is "backward breathing".
At first. for learning purposes, you can only be attentive to this when you are focused, resting and practicing. Your practice time has to be devoted to this one issue. If not, and not practiced many times a day, you probably won`t learn it. Remember, what you do enough becomes learned. Some say it takes a year to break an old habit. Physical therapists say you have to exercise an injured, unexercised muscle every hour and a half to have it gain the awareness of the new behavior you wish it to learn. I am hoping with dedication and practice you will learn it. You have to practice the change in behavior very frequently if you expect it to become natural and even then you have to stay on top of it and your reaction to events, people and things. Practicing once a day will not equal learning.
To jump start the process, I recommend you use a timer or watch that you can set to remind you every 15 minutes to tune into your breathing and practice for a few minutes. You could put a pop up reminder on your computer as well if you spend much time there.
When one begins to breathe this way, many body changes begin to take place. Heart rate drops, blood pressure drops, muscle tension decreases. In fact, deep abdominal breathing and muscle tension are incompatible. Think of the tense posture of someone sitting in a dental chair, "breath-holding" while gripping the arms of the dental chair with their tense, blanched hands and knuckles. You can"t do that with deep abdominal breathing. They just don`t go together.
When you breathe deeply and exhale slowly, GI (gastrointestinal) function tends to normalize. If someone is pretty tense and uptight and carries their stomach drawn in, then breathing this way causes a nice calm increase in stomach wall movement and this stimulates a gentle peristalsis. This tends to work for the person who is constipated. For the individual who experiences diarrhea frequently, this breathing technique is very effective. Take for instance the "anxious stomach-responder" to stress. Let`s say this person is having to give a presentation and is having a case of stage freight. Because the person is perceiving the audience as a threat (sympathetic arousal), the brain sends an autonomic message to the gut (in gut responders to stress) to increase peristalsis. The gut accommodates by increasing peristalsis causing increased evacuation, all to the biological end of allowing the organism to survive by being better able to run or fight better. We can ultimately run or fight better with an empty stomach and gastrointestinal tract.
Finally, if done properly, with this slow, deep breathing, we will experience an increase in hand temperature up in the range of 94-96 degrees. Biologically, we can afford to have warm hands if we are safe. If not safe, and we are subject to a threat attack, we would put our hands and or feet out in front of us to protect our selves. If we were assaulted and wounded, we might bleed to death. Again, because biology dictates our survival, under stress or perceived stress, our brain sends a message to our periphery (hands and feet) and tells the blood vessels to constrict. Our hands and feet get cold. Warm hands and deep breathing go together. Cold hands and chest breathing also go together. Biologically, by virtue of breathing deeply we are cueing our brain to know that we are safe, we can relax, and let blood flow to the periphery.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM WITH PROPER BREATHING
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attach themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
Our first line of defense against infections, bacterial or viral is our immune system, namely our white blood cells. We are always talking about boosting our immune system and taking supplements to achieve this. Well, what if we did this the natural way by charging up our white blood cells. Perhaps a couple of hours of proper breathing with slow exhalation at the first sign of an infection might do more for us than all the chicken soup we could eat.
Carbon Dioxide, according to much scientific research, will do more to speed up the white blood cells, to make them attack with greater force and to better recognize the enemy.
the job of the white blood cells is to scout out the infection and then to destroy it. The second line of defense is to create antibodies against that infection so it won`t return. Acting like a relay team the antibodies inform other white blood cells of the enemy.
Antibodies with a sugar amine attached lack the drive and ability to do a fast and efficient job. What should takes hours may now take days. With sufficient Carbon Dioxide in your body, these antibodies can often destroy an infection before you even know you have it.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attach themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
Our first line of defense against infections, bacterial or viral is our immune system, namely our white blood cells. We are always talking about boosting our immune system and taking supplements to achieve this. Well, what if we did this the natural way by charging up our white blood cells. Perhaps a couple of hours of proper breathing with slow exhalation at the first sign of an infection might do more for us than all the chicken soup we could eat.
Carbon Dioxide, according to much scientific research, will do more to speed up the white blood cells, to make them attack with greater force and to better recognize the enemy.
the job of the white blood cells is to scout out the infection and then to destroy it. The second line of defense is to create antibodies against that infection so it won`t return. Acting like a relay team the antibodies inform other white blood cells of the enemy.
Antibodies with a sugar amine attached lack the drive and ability to do a fast and efficient job. What should takes hours may now take days. With sufficient Carbon Dioxide in your body, these antibodies can often destroy an infection before you even know you have it.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
THE BREATHING CONNECTION TO HORMONES LIKE INSULIN
THE BREATHING CONNECTION TO HORMONES LIKE INSULIN
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attach themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
What IS the role of hormones. These proteins help the body communicate with itself. Take insulin and its effect on Diabetes as an example. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas and its job is to tell the cells of the body to open to let glucose in so they can make energy. If the insulin hormone proteins have sugars attached instead of Carbon Dioxide, insulin can`t work as designed. The result of this is, cells don?t then get the fuel or energy they need, the pancreas makes more insulin, and the liver releases more sugar into the blood stream. The result is more insulin with sugar attached, cells that are starving and losing energy, and the final result if this continues is diabetes.
Instead, breathe deep into the diaphragm or belly, blow out your air more slowly all to increase your arterial level of CO2. Most people, over 66% are over-breathing. Please visit my website to learn more about the subject of breathing.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing, rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attach themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
What IS the role of hormones. These proteins help the body communicate with itself. Take insulin and its effect on Diabetes as an example. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas and its job is to tell the cells of the body to open to let glucose in so they can make energy. If the insulin hormone proteins have sugars attached instead of Carbon Dioxide, insulin can`t work as designed. The result of this is, cells don?t then get the fuel or energy they need, the pancreas makes more insulin, and the liver releases more sugar into the blood stream. The result is more insulin with sugar attached, cells that are starving and losing energy, and the final result if this continues is diabetes.
Instead, breathe deep into the diaphragm or belly, blow out your air more slowly all to increase your arterial level of CO2. Most people, over 66% are over-breathing. Please visit my website to learn more about the subject of breathing.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
DRY AGING SUN-SPOT SKIN --- WHY DOES OUR SKIN AGE?
DRY AGING SUN-SPOT SKIN --- WHY DOES OUR SKIN AGE?
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing and rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide, and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attached themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
We can look at skin as an example. As a teen we produce new skin cells very quickly. These rise to the surface and are exfoliated in around 7 days. With aging, at around 50, this same process may take 7 weeks, leaving those cells to dehydrate and degenerate. Without enough C02 on board at all times we lack the structural proteins necessary to repair and regenerate new skin cells on an on-going basis. Instead of making vibrant, healthy new skin cells, the aging, dehydrating scenario occurs.
In addition, the skin gets filled with toxic protein-sugar complexes. Age spots are an example of these protein-sugar complexes. These spots are also called liver spots and unknown to most, what you see on the outside is also happening throughout the body. If they are showing up on your skin they are also within.
Could over breathing be a huge factor in aging skin? People have always said smokers wrinkle more than non-smokers. Could breathing explain this? The average over-breather breathes between 20,000 and 28,000 times a day. The significance of this rate may well be the fuel and essence of our being and our beauty. How we perform this on-going fuel injection-ejection task is critical. How fast we exhale and where we breathe are of major importance to our health and well-being.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Where you breathe in your body is important. It is the difference between stress and relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Date: 02/08/2008
Rapid breathing, sighing and rapid exhalation causes you to loose too much Carbon Dioxide, and it is this loss that can make you ill. Carbon dioxide is a cohort of oxygen and without enough you will end up being oxygen deficient as well.
C02 is a regulator of proteins. Every protein in the body has attached to it a group called an amine. Amines are sticky and attached themselves to Carbon dioxide. If there is not enough Carbon Dioxide in the body these amines will instead attach to sugars in the blood stream.
A protein with a sugar attached is toxic and becomes a waste product that needs to be removed from the body.
What is the role of proteins in the body? Each of the thousands of proteins in our body has a different role; they may be hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes or antibodies. The above are considered structural proteins that build our bodies and keep us healthy.
We can look at skin as an example. As a teen we produce new skin cells very quickly. These rise to the surface and are exfoliated in around 7 days. With aging, at around 50, this same process may take 7 weeks, leaving those cells to dehydrate and degenerate. Without enough C02 on board at all times we lack the structural proteins necessary to repair and regenerate new skin cells on an on-going basis. Instead of making vibrant, healthy new skin cells, the aging, dehydrating scenario occurs.
In addition, the skin gets filled with toxic protein-sugar complexes. Age spots are an example of these protein-sugar complexes. These spots are also called liver spots and unknown to most, what you see on the outside is also happening throughout the body. If they are showing up on your skin they are also within.
Could over breathing be a huge factor in aging skin? People have always said smokers wrinkle more than non-smokers. Could breathing explain this? The average over-breather breathes between 20,000 and 28,000 times a day. The significance of this rate may well be the fuel and essence of our being and our beauty. How we perform this on-going fuel injection-ejection task is critical. How fast we exhale and where we breathe are of major importance to our health and well-being.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
Where you breathe in your body is important. It is the difference between stress and relaxation. Visit my website at the link below to learn more about proper breathing and about the capnotrainer to measure and use to train proper breathing.
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
PROSTATE CANCER, STRESS AND PROPER BREATHING
Date: 02/08/2008
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
I know what Doctors say about Prostate Cancer and Prostitis, but consider this possibility. Have you ever thought that Prostate Cancer might be an oxygen deprivation disease? Scientific research has validated through many experiments that cancer cells grow more quickly in an oxygen deprived environment and more slowly in an oxygen rich environment. Now, what is the number one male cancer? We know it is Prostate for men.
Did you know that there was a precipitous increase in the incidence of prostrate cancer following the "Calvin Klein tight-jeans" era? Men were told at that time to "loosen up" and wear boxer shorts instead of tight jockey shorts as the tight pants were cutting off circulation.
Did you know that prostate cancer often times metastasizes to other organs: the liver, pancreas, brain, bones, etc. but never to the penis (right next door), the heart (though we have systemic cancer) or rarely to the muscles, all blood-rich (more oxygen) organs. The heart does not get cancer or it is extremely rare. You`ve heard of systemic cancer and that means through blood carrying, the cancer has spread throughout the system, but not to the heart. Again, the heart is oxygen rich and may be the last place to exhibit Cancer.
Muscle cancer is not very common. In each separate case there may be a reason, such as inactivity, diabetes, blood clot, injury, etc. You almost never hear of penal cancer. Why not? Again, because this is another blood rich organ that gets much exercise.
The penis is right next to the prostate gland and yet prostate is the most common male cancer. What is going here? Why would this happen. Let`s look at the behavior of the male in our species, the male animal as well. It is known in the stress circles that the FIRST place the male animal tightens under stress is the perineal area (between the testicles and the anus). The organs of reproduction are drawn up as far inside as possible so the animal or man can run or fight to protect itself from death and non-survival of the species. Imagine in our very stressful life that this happens over and over, maybe hundreds of times a day.
In that stressful life-pattern breathing patterns change to a hyperventilatory-stress breathing pattern (chest breathing, rapid exhaling) and the perineal stress response becomes an ongoing learned pattern of existence. In stress versus relaxation terms this would mean poor blood flow and oxygen to an area that is already tight, tense and compromised?.a perfect set-up for the development of cancer cells or mutation from lack of oxygen, or at the very least, prostitis.
How can you prevent or reverse this situation? Obviously, stress management may be necessary to learn how to cope with life?s dealings. Learn how to breathe properly all the time. Learn deep diaphragmatic breathing and how to breathe out more slowly and extend your exhalation. Please visit my website for many articles on this subject.
There are other examples of this oxygen deprivation connection and I welcome you to add your input and your story.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
Until you know your C02 level you will not know if you are breathing correctly. Most people are hyperventilating or over-breathing and don?t know it. You have to measure your C02 in your exhalation to know if you are over-breathing. There is no other way to know. Oxygen and C02 are true partners in the game of breathing.
I know what Doctors say about Prostate Cancer and Prostitis, but consider this possibility. Have you ever thought that Prostate Cancer might be an oxygen deprivation disease? Scientific research has validated through many experiments that cancer cells grow more quickly in an oxygen deprived environment and more slowly in an oxygen rich environment. Now, what is the number one male cancer? We know it is Prostate for men.
Did you know that there was a precipitous increase in the incidence of prostrate cancer following the "Calvin Klein tight-jeans" era? Men were told at that time to "loosen up" and wear boxer shorts instead of tight jockey shorts as the tight pants were cutting off circulation.
Did you know that prostate cancer often times metastasizes to other organs: the liver, pancreas, brain, bones, etc. but never to the penis (right next door), the heart (though we have systemic cancer) or rarely to the muscles, all blood-rich (more oxygen) organs. The heart does not get cancer or it is extremely rare. You`ve heard of systemic cancer and that means through blood carrying, the cancer has spread throughout the system, but not to the heart. Again, the heart is oxygen rich and may be the last place to exhibit Cancer.
Muscle cancer is not very common. In each separate case there may be a reason, such as inactivity, diabetes, blood clot, injury, etc. You almost never hear of penal cancer. Why not? Again, because this is another blood rich organ that gets much exercise.
The penis is right next to the prostate gland and yet prostate is the most common male cancer. What is going here? Why would this happen. Let`s look at the behavior of the male in our species, the male animal as well. It is known in the stress circles that the FIRST place the male animal tightens under stress is the perineal area (between the testicles and the anus). The organs of reproduction are drawn up as far inside as possible so the animal or man can run or fight to protect itself from death and non-survival of the species. Imagine in our very stressful life that this happens over and over, maybe hundreds of times a day.
In that stressful life-pattern breathing patterns change to a hyperventilatory-stress breathing pattern (chest breathing, rapid exhaling) and the perineal stress response becomes an ongoing learned pattern of existence. In stress versus relaxation terms this would mean poor blood flow and oxygen to an area that is already tight, tense and compromised?.a perfect set-up for the development of cancer cells or mutation from lack of oxygen, or at the very least, prostitis.
How can you prevent or reverse this situation? Obviously, stress management may be necessary to learn how to cope with life?s dealings. Learn how to breathe properly all the time. Learn deep diaphragmatic breathing and how to breathe out more slowly and extend your exhalation. Please visit my website for many articles on this subject.
There are other examples of this oxygen deprivation connection and I welcome you to add your input and your story.
By Rosemary MacGregor RN, MS info@themangotreespa
506 2786 5300
http://www.theMangoTreeSpa.com
BREATHING REFERENCES
Date: 02/08/2008
The Sports Health Handbook, Harris, Norman, Lovesey, John, Orom, Chris, World?s Work Ltd. (Great Britian) 1982
Every Breath You Take (Breathing Tips for Better Running), Plunket, Bob, The Runner, March 1986
Abdominal-thoracic respiratory movements and levels of arousal, Beverly Timmons, Joseph Salamy, Joe Kamiya and Dexter Girton, Psychon.Sci,. 1972. Vol. 27 (3)
The Nature of Respriatory Changes Associated with Sleep Onset, Karen H. Naifeh and Joe Kamiy, Sleep, 4 (1):49-59, 1981
Biofeedback of Alveolar Carbon Dioxide Tension and Levels of Arousal, K. Naifeh, J. Kamiya, D. Monroe Sweet, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, Vol 7, No. 3 1982, 283-299
*Breathe Away Your Chains of Pain, Prevention, December, 1989, 58-64
Take a Deep Breath, Dr. James E. Loehr and Dr. Jeffery A. Migdow, Villard books, New York 1986
Body Sides Switch Dominance Every 2-3 Hours, Brain Mind Bulletin, June 16, 1986, Vol 11, No 11
*Breathing Cycle Linked To Hemispheric Dominance, Brain Mind Bulletin, Jan 3, 1983, Vol 8, No 3
*Breath Technique Selectively Activates Hemishpheres, Brain Mind Bulletin, Jan 1988, Vol 13, No4
Selective hemisphereic stimulation by unilateral forced nostril breathing, D.A. Werntz, R.G> Bickford, D. Shannahoff-Khalsa, Human Neurobiology, Nov. 1986
Rhythms of the Mind and Breath, (Our breathing patterns parallel our patterns of brain activity), David s. Shannohoff-Khalsa, Advances, Vol.6, No.2 51-55
Respiration, Stress, and Cardiovascular Function, Paul Grossman, Psychophysiology, vol.20. No 3, 1983
End-tidal Carbon Dioxide Concentration During Cardiopulmonary Resusitation, (editorial comments about ETCO2 monitoring to provide quantitative measurement of blood flow during CPR), NEJM, Vol. 319, No. 9, 579-580
Yoga and Chemoreflex response to hypoxia and hypercapnia (finding of how slow breathing substantially reduced chemosensitivity while long-term yoga practice equaled a generalized reduction in chemoreflex), Lucia Spicuzza, Alessandra Gabutti, Cesare Porta, Nicola Montano, Luciano Bernardi, Lancet, Vol 356, October 28, 2000, 1495-1496
*Slow Down, you Breathe too Fast (Doctors suspect chronic hyperventilation is behind many ?phychological? ailments), American Health, June 1992, 71-75
High-Altitude Cerebral Edema Evaluated With Magnetic Resonance Imaging, P. Hackett, PR Yarnell, R. Hill, K. Reynard, J. Heit, J. McCormick (With HACE edema occurs in the white matter of the brain) JAMA. Dec 9. 1998-vol 280, No 22, 1920-1925
Respiratory Alkalosis and Hypocarbia, (The role of carbon dioxide in the body economy) L,C, Lum, The Chest, Heart and Stroke Journal, winter 78/79. Vol 3, #4 London, 31-34
Hyperventilation and Pseudo-Allergic Reactions, L.C. Lum, Involvment of Drugs and Chemicals, vol. 4, pp. 106-119 (Karger, Basel 1985)
Hyperventilation Leading to Hallucinations, T.E. Allen, Bertrand Agus, American Psychiat., 125: 5, Nov 1968
Hyperventilation syndromes in medicine and psychiatry: a review, L. C. Lum, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 80, April 1987. 229-231
The Syndrome of Habitual Chronic Hyperventilation, L.C. Lum, Modern Trends in psychosomatic medicine-3, London, Butterworths, 1976, 196-230
Hyperventilation: the Tip and the Iceberg, L.C. Lum, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 19, 1975, 375-383
Physiological Considerations in the Treatment of Hypeventilation Syndromes, L.C. Lum, Journal of Drug Research, 1983, 1867-1872
Breathing Exercises in the Treatment of Emphasema, Diana Innocenti, Physiotherapy, Dec 1966 437-441
Respiratory and Vascular Responses to Simple Visual Stimuli in Autistics, Retardates and Normals, Angela James, Robert J. Barry, Psychophysiology, Vol 17, 4, 541-547
*Breathing For the Brain, American Health, Nov 1986 16-17
The Science of Breath, Swami Rama, R. Ballentine, Alan Hymes, The Himalayan Institute, 1979
Brain Breathing, Diana Ingber (Changing the way we breathe can change the way our brain works` and give us conscious control over our blood pressure, immune system and mental health) Science Digest, June 1981 72-111
*Hyperventilation and the body C. Gilbert, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, (1998) 2(3), 184-191
Breathing and the Cardiovascular System, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, October 1998
*Breath, the Way of Balance, Phil Nuernberger, Dawn, Vol. 2, No.2. 1982
Healing with Ki-Kou: The Secrets of Ancient Chinese Breathing Techniques Li Xiuling, Agora Health Books (800-851-7100) 1993
Oriental Breathing Therapy, Takashi Nakamura, Japan Publications, Inc. 1981
Breath by Breath, Larry Rosenberg, Shambala, Boston 1999
Respiratory Physiology, N. Balfour Slonim, L.H. Hamilton, Mosby Co., 1987
Exercise Manual for J. H. Schultz?s Standard Autogenic Training and Special Formulas, Beata Jenks, Salt Lake City, 1973
Pranayama, Swami Kuvalayananda, Kirloskar Press, 1966
The Hyperventilation Syndrome, Robert Fried, John Hopkins Press, 1987
The Breath Connection, Robert Fried, Insight Books, 1990
The Premordial Breath, Vol 1, (An ancient Chinese way of prolonging life through breath control), translated by Jane Huang, Original books, 1987
The Breathing Book, Donna Farhi, Henry Holt and Co., 1996
Relaxation with Biofeedback-Assisted Guided Imagery: the Importance of Breathing Rate as an index of Hypoarousal, Robert Fried, Hunter College and the Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy, N. Y.
Pursed Lips Breathing Training Using Ear Oximetry, B. Tiep, M. Burns, D. Kao, R. Madison, J. Herrera, Chest, 90, 2, August, 1986
Breathing Awareness as a Relaxation Method in Cardiac Rehabilitation, Jan Van Dixhoorn, Hugo J. Duivenvoorden, Proceedings of Third International Conference on Stress Management, Edinburgh 1988, Plenum, N.Y.
Panic Attacks During Sleep: A Hyperventilation-Probability Model, Ron Ley, J. Behavior, Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, Vol. 19, No. 3. Pp. 181-192, 1988
EEG apha-biofeedback training: an experimental technique for the management of anxiety, J.F. Hare, B.H.Timmons, J.R. Roberts, A.S. Burman, Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, Vol 6, No. 1, Jan & Feb, 1982, 19-24
The Effects of Emotions on Short-term Power Spectrum Analysis of Heart Rate Variability, R. MaCraty, M. Atkinson, W. Tiller, Glen Rein, A. Watkins, The Journal of American Cardiology, Vol 76, no. 14, Nov 15, 1089-1093
The Role of Oscillations In Self-Regulation: Their Contribution to Homeostasis, N. Giardino, P. Lehrer, J. Feldman, In Diana Kenny and F. J. mcGuigans (Eds): Stress and Health: Research and clinical applications, 1-33
Cardiac Vagal Tone: A Physiological Index of Stress, S. Porges, NeuroSciences and Behavioral Reviews, Vol. 19, No. 2, 225-233
Heart Rate Variability, Special Report, Circulation, Vol. 93, No 5, March 1, 1996, 1043-1065
Heart Rate Variability in Health and Disease, E.Kristal-Boneh, M. Raifel, P. Froom, J. Ribak, Scandinavian J Work Environ Health, 1995, 21: 85-95
Breathing and the Cardiovascular System, C. Gilbert, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Octiber 1999
The Sports Health Handbook, Harris, Norman, Lovesey, John, Orom, Chris, World?s Work Ltd. (Great Britian) 1982
Every Breath You Take (Breathing Tips for Better Running), Plunket, Bob, The Runner, March 1986
Abdominal-thoracic respiratory movements and levels of arousal, Beverly Timmons, Joseph Salamy, Joe Kamiya and Dexter Girton, Psychon.Sci,. 1972. Vol. 27 (3)
The Nature of Respriatory Changes Associated with Sleep Onset, Karen H. Naifeh and Joe Kamiy, Sleep, 4 (1):49-59, 1981
Biofeedback of Alveolar Carbon Dioxide Tension and Levels of Arousal, K. Naifeh, J. Kamiya, D. Monroe Sweet, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, Vol 7, No. 3 1982, 283-299
*Breathe Away Your Chains of Pain, Prevention, December, 1989, 58-64
Take a Deep Breath, Dr. James E. Loehr and Dr. Jeffery A. Migdow, Villard books, New York 1986
Body Sides Switch Dominance Every 2-3 Hours, Brain Mind Bulletin, June 16, 1986, Vol 11, No 11
*Breathing Cycle Linked To Hemispheric Dominance, Brain Mind Bulletin, Jan 3, 1983, Vol 8, No 3
*Breath Technique Selectively Activates Hemishpheres, Brain Mind Bulletin, Jan 1988, Vol 13, No4
Selective hemisphereic stimulation by unilateral forced nostril breathing, D.A. Werntz, R.G> Bickford, D. Shannahoff-Khalsa, Human Neurobiology, Nov. 1986
Rhythms of the Mind and Breath, (Our breathing patterns parallel our patterns of brain activity), David s. Shannohoff-Khalsa, Advances, Vol.6, No.2 51-55
Respiration, Stress, and Cardiovascular Function, Paul Grossman, Psychophysiology, vol.20. No 3, 1983
End-tidal Carbon Dioxide Concentration During Cardiopulmonary Resusitation, (editorial comments about ETCO2 monitoring to provide quantitative measurement of blood flow during CPR), NEJM, Vol. 319, No. 9, 579-580
Yoga and Chemoreflex response to hypoxia and hypercapnia (finding of how slow breathing substantially reduced chemosensitivity while long-term yoga practice equaled a generalized reduction in chemoreflex), Lucia Spicuzza, Alessandra Gabutti, Cesare Porta, Nicola Montano, Luciano Bernardi, Lancet, Vol 356, October 28, 2000, 1495-1496
*Slow Down, you Breathe too Fast (Doctors suspect chronic hyperventilation is behind many ?phychological? ailments), American Health, June 1992, 71-75
High-Altitude Cerebral Edema Evaluated With Magnetic Resonance Imaging, P. Hackett, PR Yarnell, R. Hill, K. Reynard, J. Heit, J. McCormick (With HACE edema occurs in the white matter of the brain) JAMA. Dec 9. 1998-vol 280, No 22, 1920-1925
Respiratory Alkalosis and Hypocarbia, (The role of carbon dioxide in the body economy) L,C, Lum, The Chest, Heart and Stroke Journal, winter 78/79. Vol 3, #4 London, 31-34
Hyperventilation and Pseudo-Allergic Reactions, L.C. Lum, Involvment of Drugs and Chemicals, vol. 4, pp. 106-119 (Karger, Basel 1985)
Hyperventilation Leading to Hallucinations, T.E. Allen, Bertrand Agus, American Psychiat., 125: 5, Nov 1968
Hyperventilation syndromes in medicine and psychiatry: a review, L. C. Lum, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 80, April 1987. 229-231
The Syndrome of Habitual Chronic Hyperventilation, L.C. Lum, Modern Trends in psychosomatic medicine-3, London, Butterworths, 1976, 196-230
Hyperventilation: the Tip and the Iceberg, L.C. Lum, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, Vol. 19, 1975, 375-383
Physiological Considerations in the Treatment of Hypeventilation Syndromes, L.C. Lum, Journal of Drug Research, 1983, 1867-1872
Breathing Exercises in the Treatment of Emphasema, Diana Innocenti, Physiotherapy, Dec 1966 437-441
Respiratory and Vascular Responses to Simple Visual Stimuli in Autistics, Retardates and Normals, Angela James, Robert J. Barry, Psychophysiology, Vol 17, 4, 541-547
*Breathing For the Brain, American Health, Nov 1986 16-17
The Science of Breath, Swami Rama, R. Ballentine, Alan Hymes, The Himalayan Institute, 1979
Brain Breathing, Diana Ingber (Changing the way we breathe can change the way our brain works` and give us conscious control over our blood pressure, immune system and mental health) Science Digest, June 1981 72-111
*Hyperventilation and the body C. Gilbert, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, (1998) 2(3), 184-191
Breathing and the Cardiovascular System, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, October 1998
*Breath, the Way of Balance, Phil Nuernberger, Dawn, Vol. 2, No.2. 1982
Healing with Ki-Kou: The Secrets of Ancient Chinese Breathing Techniques Li Xiuling, Agora Health Books (800-851-7100) 1993
Oriental Breathing Therapy, Takashi Nakamura, Japan Publications, Inc. 1981
Breath by Breath, Larry Rosenberg, Shambala, Boston 1999
Respiratory Physiology, N. Balfour Slonim, L.H. Hamilton, Mosby Co., 1987
Exercise Manual for J. H. Schultz?s Standard Autogenic Training and Special Formulas, Beata Jenks, Salt Lake City, 1973
Pranayama, Swami Kuvalayananda, Kirloskar Press, 1966
The Hyperventilation Syndrome, Robert Fried, John Hopkins Press, 1987
The Breath Connection, Robert Fried, Insight Books, 1990
The Premordial Breath, Vol 1, (An ancient Chinese way of prolonging life through breath control), translated by Jane Huang, Original books, 1987
The Breathing Book, Donna Farhi, Henry Holt and Co., 1996
Relaxation with Biofeedback-Assisted Guided Imagery: the Importance of Breathing Rate as an index of Hypoarousal, Robert Fried, Hunter College and the Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy, N. Y.
Pursed Lips Breathing Training Using Ear Oximetry, B. Tiep, M. Burns, D. Kao, R. Madison, J. Herrera, Chest, 90, 2, August, 1986
Breathing Awareness as a Relaxation Method in Cardiac Rehabilitation, Jan Van Dixhoorn, Hugo J. Duivenvoorden, Proceedings of Third International Conference on Stress Management, Edinburgh 1988, Plenum, N.Y.
Panic Attacks During Sleep: A Hyperventilation-Probability Model, Ron Ley, J. Behavior, Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, Vol. 19, No. 3. Pp. 181-192, 1988
EEG apha-biofeedback training: an experimental technique for the management of anxiety, J.F. Hare, B.H.Timmons, J.R. Roberts, A.S. Burman, Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, Vol 6, No. 1, Jan & Feb, 1982, 19-24
The Effects of Emotions on Short-term Power Spectrum Analysis of Heart Rate Variability, R. MaCraty, M. Atkinson, W. Tiller, Glen Rein, A. Watkins, The Journal of American Cardiology, Vol 76, no. 14, Nov 15, 1089-1093
The Role of Oscillations In Self-Regulation: Their Contribution to Homeostasis, N. Giardino, P. Lehrer, J. Feldman, In Diana Kenny and F. J. mcGuigans (Eds): Stress and Health: Research and clinical applications, 1-33
Cardiac Vagal Tone: A Physiological Index of Stress, S. Porges, NeuroSciences and Behavioral Reviews, Vol. 19, No. 2, 225-233
Heart Rate Variability, Special Report, Circulation, Vol. 93, No 5, March 1, 1996, 1043-1065
Heart Rate Variability in Health and Disease, E.Kristal-Boneh, M. Raifel, P. Froom, J. Ribak, Scandinavian J Work Environ Health, 1995, 21: 85-95
Breathing and the Cardiovascular System, C. Gilbert, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Octiber 1999
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION AND THE BREATHING HEART WAVE
Title: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION
Date: 02/08/2008
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION
AND THE BREATHING HEART WAVE
Peter M. Litchfield, Ph.D. in California Biofeedback. Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2003)
Respiration: Chemistry and Mechanics
“Respiration” is behavioral-physiologic homeostasis, a form of self-regulatory behavior, which constitutes a
transport system for customized delivery of atmospheric oxygen to each and every tissue based on their specific
metabolic requirements, including the transport of metabolic carbon dioxide from the cells to outside air. The
“mechanics” of respiration constitute “breathing,” the use of the lungs for moving oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other
gases to and/or from the blood. The “chemistry” of respiration constitutes the physiology of moving oxygen from
the lungs to the cells, and carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs. Optimizing respiration means good “chemistry
through good “mechanics.”
In this overview, “breathing mechanics” have reference to breathing rhythmicity (holding, gasping, sighing),
breathing rate, breathing depth (volume), locus of breathing (chest and diaphragm), breathing resistance (nose and
mouth), and collateral muscle activity for breathing regulation (muscles other than the diaphragm). “Breathing
chemistry” has reference to the ventilation of carbon dioxide through these breathing mechanics in the service of
establishing adaptive respiratory chemistry. Respiratory chemistry can be monitored by measuring changes in
exhaled carbon dioxide, to be discussed later, so as to ensure that the learning of breathing mechanics is truly in the
service of respiration.
Good breathing “mechanics” rather than good respiratory physiology, has unfortunately become almost the
exclusive focus of breathing training and learning, often along with insistence on tying it to “relaxation” training
regimens in the context of specific philosophical and/or professional agenda. As a result, it is not surprising then,
that at least 50 percent of therapists and trainers who teach breathing actually deregulate respiratory chemistry by
inducing “overbreathing” with their instructions to trainees, not realizing that they are inducing system-wide
physiological crisis through the establishment of hypocapnia, i.e., carbon dioxide deficit. Unfortunately, based on
this kind of thinking, myths and misunderstandings about “good” breathing often constitute the “working
knowledge” of professionals and lay audiences alike. Here are some of them:
Good breathing means relaxation.
No. Good breathing is important in all circumstances, whether relaxed or not.
Learning good breathing requires relaxation.
No. This would mean that during most life circumstances, breathing is maladaptive.
Diaphragmatic breathing is synonymous with good breathing.
No. In many instances one may begin to overbreathe as a result of switching from chest to diaphragm.
Good respiration is all about the mechanics of breathing.
No. Good breathing means ventilating in accordance with metabolic requirements.
Diaphragmatic, deep, slow breathing means better distribution of oxygen.
No. Mechanics may look letter perfect, but oxygen distribution may be poor.
Underbreathing, with the result of oxygen deficit, is common.
No. To the contrary, overbreathing is common.
Good breathing translates into optimizing respiratory physiology, and contrary to popular thinking, learning to
breathe well does not simply mean deep, slow, diaphragmatic breathing in the context of learning how to relax.
Adaptive breathing means regulating blood chemistry, through proper ventilation of carbon dioxide, in accordance
with metabolic and other physiologic requirements associated with all life activities and circumstances: relaxation or
stress, rest or challenge, fatigue or excitement, attention or open-focus, playing or working. Deregulated breathing
chemistry, i.e., hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency) as a result of overbreathing, means serious physiological crisis
involving system-wide compromises that involve physical and mental consequences of all kinds, to be examined
later in this overview. Evaluating, establishing, maintaining, and promoting good respiratory chemistry are
fundamental to virtually any professional practice involving breathing training. Good breathing chemistry
establishes a system-wide context conducive to optimizing health and maximizing performance.
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Breathing training is invariably included as an important component of relaxation training, but surely does not in
and of itself constitute relaxation. Breathing may be fully optimized, and hopefully is, during times of stress and
challenge where relaxation is neither possible nor adaptive. Once good breathing chemistry and breathing
mechanics are in place, relaxation training may then also include the establishment of stable high-amplitude
breathing heart waves, i.e., parasympathetic (nervous system) tone, otherwise known as the respiratory sinus
arrhythmia (RSA) and as one of the frequency ranges (HF) of what is known as heart rate variability (HRV).
Respiratory Chemistry: The Role of Carbon Dioxide in Oxygen Distribution
Blood is circulated with great precision to specific body sites based on their local and immediate metabolic
requirements. Higher metabolism in more active tissues and cells generates higher levels of CO2 resulting in
immediate local vasodilation (relaxation of smooth muscles with the result of increasing the diameter of the vessels),
thus setting the stage for supplying the required oxygen and glucose to the associated tissues, such as to specific
regions of the brain while thinking.
Higher levels of CO2 also lead to an immediate drop in blood and extracellular fluid pH levels through the
formation of carbonic acid, thus obliging the hemoglobin to more readily distribute its oxygen to meet local
metabolic requirements. Lower levels of CO2, as a result of lower metabolism, lead to blood vessel constriction
(e.g., reduction in the diameter of the coronaries) and to higher levels of blood and extracellular fluid pH (less
carbonic acid), thus permitting oxygen and glucose to go elsewhere where metabolic requirements are greater. In
the simplest of terms, this is the biochemistry of healthy respiration.
Deregulated Respiration: Effects of Carbon Dioxide Deficit on Physiology
The most serious form of breathing deregulation is overbreathing, an all too common and serious state of
behavioral-physiologic affairs. Overbreathing is undoubtedly one of the most insidious and dangerous
behaviors/responses to environmental, task, emotional, cognitive, and relationship challenges in our daily lives.
Overbreathing can be a dangerous behavior immediately triggering and/or exacerbating a wide variety of serious
physical and mental symptoms, complaints, and deficits in health and human performance.
Overbreathing* means bringing about carbon dioxide (CO2) deficit in the blood (i.e., hypocapnia) through excessive
ventilation (increased “minute volume”) during rapid, deep, and dysrhythmic breathing, a condition that may result
in debilitating short-term and long-term physical and psychological complaints and symptoms. The slight shifts in
CO2 chemistry associated with overbreathing may cause physiological changes such as hypoxia (oxygen deficit),
cerebral vasoconstriction (brain), coronary constriction (heart), blood and extracellular alkalosis (increased pH),
cerebral glucose deficit, ischemia (localized anemia), buffer depletion (bicarbonates), bronchial constriction, gut
constriction, calcium imbalance, magnesium deficiency, and muscle fatigue, spasm (tetany), and pain.
*Note: “Overbreathing” is a behavior leading to the physiological condition known as hypocapnia, i.e., carbon dioxide deficit.
“Hyperventilation,” although nomenclature synonymous with hypocapnia in physiological terms, is often used as a clinical term to describe a
controversial psychophysiologic “syndrome” implicated in panic disorder and other clinical complaints.
Effects of Overbreathing on Cerebral O2:
Vasoconstrictive effects
Reduction of O2 Availability by 40 Percent
(Red = most O2, dark blue = least O2)
In this image, oxygen availability in the brain is reduced by 40% as a
result of about a minute of overbreathing (hyperventilation). Not only is
oxygen availability reduced, but glucose critical to brain functioning is
also markedly reduced as a result of cerebral vasoconstriction.
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Blood is distributed based on metabolic requirement. Overbreathing is excessive ventilation of carbon dioxide,
excessive because CO2 levels in the blood no longer accurately reflect metabolic level; the ratio of metabolic CO2
to expired CO2 has shifted in favor of exhaled CO2. The consequence is a miscalculation of local metabolic
requirements that leads to less than the required amount of vasodilation, or to vasoconstriction, and thus to
potentially serious deficits of oxygen (hypoxia) and glucose (hypoglycemia) as well as of other required nutrients
for the optimal functioning of a wide variety of tissues and physiological systems (e.g., brain, heart, and lungs).
This misinformation about metabolism also triggers constriction of other smooth muscles, e.g., in the bronchioles
and the gut, thus potentially exacerbating both asthma and irritable bowel syndrome.
Carbon dioxide deficit means a reduction in carbonic acid and a corresponding shift of blood and extracellular fluid
pH in the alkaline direction, i.e., above the normal range of 7.38 – 7.40; alkalosis is an immediate consequence of
hypocapnia. Paradoxically, this results in an increase in oxygen saturation in the blood, because hemoglobin does
not encounter pH levels that accurately reflect current metabolic requirements and is thus less inclined than it would
otherwise be to release its oxygen; the pH level does not properly reflect metabolic requirements. Thus, although
oxygen saturation is maximized, oxygen distribution is withheld where in fact metabolic needs significantly exceed
those reflected by the reduced CO2 levels resulting from overbreathing.
The coupling of vasoconstriction and "disinclined" hemoglobin (because of higher pH levels) means significant
compounding of oxygen distribution problems where oxygen deficits (hypoxia) are considerably greater than those
brought about by vasoconstriction alone, e.g., deficits, in effect, that may exceed 50 percent in the brain. Combining
these effects with glucose deficit in the brain, in the heart, and in other physiological systems can precipitate,
exacerbate, and even originate serious consequences, including physiological and psychological complaints,
symptoms, and syndromes of numerous kinds (see below).
Alkalosis, i.e., increased pH due to reduced levels of CO2, leads to yet further compromises. Extracellular fluid
alkalosis increases cellular excitability and contractility (e.g., neuronal excitability in the brain) and thus actually
increases oxygen demand, anaerobic metabolism, and antioxidant depletion (caused by excitatory amino acids).
And, in fact, yet further worsening matters, alkalosis inhibits the negative feedback normally associated with lower
pH levels that limit the production of metabolic acids themselves (e.g., lactate), and hence yet further compromises
performance. Blood alkalosis leads to migration of calcium ions into muscle tissue, including both smooth (e.g.,
coronary, vasocerebral, bronchial, gut) and skeletal tissue, resulting in increased likelihood of muscle spasm
(tetany), fatigue, and pain. And, platelet aggregation is increased, thus elevating the likelihood of blood clotting.
Overbreathing is an insidious and unconscious habit, one that is not readily detectable. Overbreathing may be
precipitated at stressful times of the day, during times of defensiveness and emotionality, during information
overload, or upon the commencement of ordinary tasks through self-initiation or instructions from authority. Some
individuals overbreathe with little provocation and may do so chronically, all day without knowing it. And,
unfortunately overbreathing is even induced (often) and reinforced by professionals who teach breathing mechanics
(e.g., diaphragmatic training) in the name of relaxation, improved health, and better performance. Good chemistry
is fundamental to optimal behavioral-physiologic homeostasis, basic to optimizing health and performance.
Chronic Deregulation: Compensatory Behavioral-Physiologic Activity and its Price
Bicarbonates are required for controlling acidosis (when blood becomes less alkaline than normal, less than 7.38),
i.e., neutralizing acids, brought about through physical activity (e.g., lactic acid) as well as through other physiologic
activities (e.g., ketoacidosis as a result of diabetes). Chronic hypocapnia resulting from overbreathing ultimately
leads to compensatory renal unloading of bicarbonates (inhibition of bicarbonate reabsorption in the kidneys), which
lowers blood and intracellular pH toward normal levels, but in the end neither completely renormalizing nor
stabilizing pH levels. Unfortunately, chronic compensatory behavior may ultimately seriously compromise
buffering capabilities, resulting in reduced physical endurance and greater susceptibility to fatigue.
In addition to the loss of bicarbonates, there is also significant loss of magnesium (and phosphates) a deficiency that
may ultimately lead to an imbalanced magnesium-calcium ratio critical to muscle functioning, resulting in increased
likelihood of muscle fatigue, weakness, and spasm.
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Although the blood pH, i.e. alkalosis, is reduced as a result of this compensatory behavior, and hemoglobin
distributes its oxygen more consistently with metabolic requirements, smooth muscle constriction and its
consequences remain a chronic condition (e.g., cerebral vasoconstriction, coronary constriction, bronchial
constriction, and gut constriction).
Note: Individuals suffering with diabetes may overbreathe as a means to controlling ketoacidosis, i.e., reducing levels of carbonic acid. This is
why biofeedback for “relaxation training,” for example, was contraindicated for such individuals. Normalizing CO2 levels implicit in relaxation
training, without proper attention to matter of chemistry, might well result in acidosis. The “price” for compensatory overbreathing behavior,
however, is high and nevertheless needs to be seriously addressed.
Overbreathing: Effects on Health
Overbreathing, based on the chemistry of breathing described above, can trigger or exacerbate physical and
psychological complaints such as: shortness of breath, breathlessness, chest tightness and pressure, chest pain,
feelings of suffocation, sweaty palms, cold hands, tingling of the skin, numbness, heart palpitations, irregular heart
beat, anxiety, apprehension, emotional outbursts, stress, tenseness, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, dry mouth,
nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, fainting, black-out, blurred vision, confusion, disorientation, attention deficit,
poor thinking, poor memory, poor concentration, impaired judgment, problem solving deficit, reduced pain
threshold, headache, trembling, twitching, shivering, muscle tension, muscle spasms, stiffness, abdominal cramps
and bloatedness. It is little wonder, then, why surveys have found that up to 60 percent of all ambulance calls in
major US cities are the result of overbreathing!
The significance of the effects of this little known but thoroughly documented physiology can be put into
perspective knowing that surveys suggest that 10 to 25 percent of the US population suffers from chronic
overbreathing, and that over half of us overbreathe on frequent occasion! The following is a quotation from a book
chapter written by Dr. Herbert Fensterheim (Chapter 9, Behavioral and Psychological Approaches to Breathing
Disorders, 1994), a highly respected and internationally prominent author and psychotherapist, and it points to the
fundamental importance of evaluating respiratory chemistry, i.e., overbreathing, in the mental health professions,
regardless of a practitioner’s school of thought or treatment paradigm:
“Given the high frequency of incorrect breathing patterns in the adult population, attention to the symptoms of
hyperventilation [overbreathing] should be a routine part of every psychological evaluation, regardless of the specific
presenting complaints. Faulty breathing patterns affect patients differently. They may be the central problem,
directly bringing on the pathological symptoms; they may magnify, exacerbate, or maintain symptoms brought on by
other causes; or they may be involved in peripheral problems that must be ameliorated before psychotherapeutic
access is gained to the core treatment targets. Their manifestations may be direct and obvious, as when overbreathing
leads to a panic attack, or they may initiate or maintain subtle symptoms that perpetuate an entire personality
disorder. Diagnosis of hyperventilatory [overbreathing] conditions is crucial.”
Chronic vasoconstriction, magnesium-calcium imbalance, buffer depletion, and alkalosis (higher levels of blood and
extracellular pH levels) as a result of overbreathing may in predisposed individuals trigger or exacerbate: phobias,
migraine phenomena, hypertension, attention disorder, asthma attacks, angina attacks, heart attacks, cardiac
arrhythmias, thrombosis (blood clotting) panic attacks, hypoglycemia, epileptic seizures, altitude sickness, muscle
weakness and spasm, sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbances (apnea), allergy, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),
repetitive strain injury (RSI), and chronic fatigue.
In an important recent review article on the subject of hypocapnia (CO2 deficit) in the New England Journal of
Medicine (J. Laffey and B. Kavanagh, 4 July 2002), the authors say:
“…extensive data from a spectrum of physiological systems indicate that hypocapnia has the potential to propagate or
initiate pathological processes. As a common aspect of many acute disorders, hypocapnia may have a pathogenic role in the
development of systemic diseases” (pages 44 and 46). And, they go on to say, “Increasing evidence suggests that
hypocapnia appears to induce substantial adverse physiological and medical effects” (page 51).
Long-term vasoconstriction may also lead to ischemia in the brain and the heart (anemia in cells not adequately
supplied with oxygen), result in reduced neurotransmitter synthesis that contributes to the onset of depression and
other psychological syndromes, and chronically lower the threshold for most of the complaints listed above, e.g.,
chronic vasoconstriction and increased systemic vascular resistance may reduce the threshold for elevated blood
pressure or precipitate angina attack in predisposed individuals.
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It is estimated that the primary complaint of one third of all patients in general medical practice is fatigue, a
condition that may actually be brought on and/or exacerbated by buffer depletion resulting from overbreathing, and
a condition (fatigue) in and of itself that can be assessed through CO2 measurement (capnometry) to be described
later in this overview. On this basis alone, some prominent physicians in both Europe and America assert that
capnometers, like blood pressure devices, should be on the desktop of every general and family practitioner.
It is estimated that more than a third of all those who suffer with asthma overbreathe, a condition potentially leading
to immediate bronchial constriction and asthma attack. The “struggle” to breathe and fear of “not getting enough
air” can easily lead to “panicky” breathing where vicious circle overbreathing may result in a progressive worsening
of hypocapnia-induced bronchial constriction and increased airway resistance. Teaching good breathing mechanics
to people with asthma through diaphragmatic breathing can very significantly improve breathing efficiency by
increasing volume, reducing rate, establishing rhythmicity, and eliminating collateral muscle movement not required
for good breathing. In effect, it reduces the “struggle” to breathe by introducing an effortlessness form of breathing
that also provides for a sense of mastery over the debilitating effects of the condition. This training, however, can
itself easily result in overbreathing through a combination of the “success” of the method itself (increased efficiency,
volume) and the continued motivation “to get enough air,” and where neither the therapist nor the patient are
familiar with overbreathing and its effects.
Documented medical savings of 45 percent over a five year period in heart attack patients following only six
breathing training sessions, led to legislation in Holland that all cardiac rehabilitation centers offer breathing training
to patients. Unfortunately, this little known research and its highly practical implications remain relatively unknown
to most professionals working in American cardiac rehabilitation centers, where the importance of behavioral
respiratory physiology has simply not been introduced. The importance of breathing training in cardiovascular
health is yet further supported by the article in the New England Journal of Medicine (page 50), where the authors
point out that “hypocapnia has been clearly linked to the development of arrhythmias, both in critically ill patients
and in patients with panic disorder.”
How can “simple” breathing training significantly influence the outcome of cardiovascular rehabilitation in patients
who overbreathe? Consider the following: A survey of studies on overbreathing and coronary constriction show a
reduction of blood volume by about 50 percent (a 23 percent reduction in coronary diameter), a significant reduction
in compromised individuals; and, extreme coronary constriction as a result of overbreathing has also been identified
in a subpopulation of patients. Increased platelet aggregation brought about by hypocapnia may precipitate blood
clotting, i.e., thrombosis. Buffer depletion resulting from long-term overbreathing, as described earlier, may also
significantly contribute to the onset of arrhythmias and other cardiovascular abnormalities. Increased vascular
resistance as a result of vasoconstriction and alkalosis brought about through chronic overbreathing may trigger
hypertension in predisposed individuals. Hypocapnia leads to cellular excitability and to increased contractility of
the heart, increasing oxygen demand while oxygen availability is sharply decreased. And, the upward pH shift
brings on calcium migration into muscle tissue, increasing the likelihood of arterial (coronary) spasm. Normalizing
breathing chemistry reverses these effects.
The New England Journal of Medicine article goes on to point out that clinically significant overbreathing in
pregnant women is commonplace, and that during childbirth, “…further lowering of the partial pressure of arterial
CO2 - even for a short duration - such as during anesthesia for cesarean section - may have serious adverse effects
on the fetus.” The implications of this statement are staggering when considering that some child-birthing
techniques used by many thousands of women (western) worldwide actually engaged women in the practice of
extreme forms of overbreathing during childbirth.
Overbreathing during wakefulness is seriously implicated as an important variable in the origin and in the onset of
sleep apnea. “Hypocapnia is a common finding in patients with sleep apnea and may be pathogenic,” according to
the same article in New England Journal of Medicine.
The seriousness of the effects of hypocapnia are made absolutely clear in the New England Journal of Medicine
review article, written for the express purpose of warning physicians about their use of hypocapnia as a means to
controlling symptoms and conditions resulting from injury and disease, as well as its widespread use in general
anesthesia. In fact, the impact of hypocapnia on cerebral blood flow and blood volume is so dramatic, according the
article, that almost 50 percent of emergency physicians and 36 percent of neurosurgeons actually induce hypocapnia
to control of life-threatening intracranial swelling resulting from head trauma or brain injury.
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Overbreathing: Effects on Cognition
Cognitive and perceptual deficits are perhaps most clearly understood by newcomers to this physiology by
examining the effects of hypoxia on the behavior of pilots. Every pilot knows about the cognitive and perceptual
deficits resulting from the effects of hypoxia in high altitude chambers, including impaired decision-making,
perceptual motor skills, information processing, problem solving, task completion, memory, thinking, and
communication effectiveness. Serious cerebral hypoxia means that even the easiest of tasks become significant
mental challenges, e.g., simple navigational calculations during an engine-out procedure. In fact, overbreathing is
routinely monitored in fighter pilots while in flight. Particularly noteworthy, as is often emphasized by on-looking
observers, is the fact that these performance decrements go completely undetected by those actually suffering from
the hypoxia. Overbreathing at sea level and the resulting hypoxia produce precisely these same effects!
The potent impact of overbreathing on cerebral functioning is made clear in the recent article in the New England
Journal of Medicine in the description of the use of hypocapnia for controlling intracranial swelling in otherwise
life-threatening brain trauma circumstances: “Hypocapnic alkalosis decreases cerebral blood flow by means of
potent cerebral vasoconstriction, thereby lowering intracranial pressure.” The dramatic impact of overbreathing on
cognitive function is put into further perspective, when the authors describe the widespread and deliberate induction
of hypocapnia during general anesthesia (e.g., for reducing the need for sedatives), as follows:
“The causative role of hypocapnia in postoperative cognitive dysfunction is underscored by the finding that exposure to an
elevated partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide [i.e., normalizing CO2 levels] during anesthesia appears to enhance
postoperative neuropsychologic performance.”
Cognitive, perceptual, and motor skill deficits, brought about by hypoxia (oxygen deficit) are yet further exacerbated
by cerebral hypoglycemia (glucose deficit, as a result of vasoconstriction) that may compromise brain functioning to
a yet greater degree. The potentially debilitating combination of cerebral oxygen and glucose deficits resulting
directly from overbreathing may seriously compromise and/or disrupt ability to attend, focus, concentrate, imagine,
rehearse the details of an action (e.g., golf swing), initiate performance, play a musical instrument, sing, engage in
public speaking, and perform all kinds of other complex tasks.
There is a fine line between vigilance and stress. In the transition from vigilance to stress, i.e., from positive
attentiveness to guarded defensiveness (fight-flight behavioral patterns), overbreathing may be immediately instated
with its debilitating effects occurring within less than a minute. This same kind of transition may occur when taskdemand
exceeds a certain level of complexity or when relationship challenge exceeds a certain level of emotionality:
overbreathing as a component of defensive posturing takes over. Task-induced overbreathing for example can
insidiously and unsuspectingly contribute to the degradation of human performance, insidious because the performer
is neither likely to be aware that overbreathing is taking place, nor have any idea whatsoever as to its effects.
Performers who are task-induced “overbreathers” are good candidates for breathing chemistry training.
The implications of overbreathing and its regulation for working with children and adults suffering with attention
deficits are significant. Low cerebral CO2 as a result of overbreathing shifts the EEG power spectrum downwards
and elevates the presence of theta EEG activity, the frequency domain of principal interest to neurofeedback
practitioners who seek to reduce theta activity in clients who suffer attention deficit disorder. Before beginning such
work it truly behooves practitioners to normalize the chemistry of breathing, a fundamental system-wide
physiological consideration, before beginning neurofeedback or other forms of behavioral-physiologic training.
Overbreathing: its Effects on Emotion
Cerebral hypoxia and cerebral hypoglycemia not only have profound effects on cognition and perception but also on
emotionality: apprehension, anxiety, anger, frustration, fear, panic, stress, vulnerability, and feelings of low selfesteem.
Cerebral (brain) oxygen and glucose deficits may trigger “disinhibition” of emotional states, i.e., release of
emotions otherwise held “in check.” Loss of emotional control, intensification of emotional states, and exacerbation
of debilitating stressful states of consciousness may result from overbreathing in challenging and adverse
circumstances, e.g., flying phobias and debilitating public speaking anxiety. Emotional discharge in challenging
environments itself may, of course, further exacerbate cognitive and other performance deficits.
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Failure to understand the source of physical sensations resulting from overbreathing, e.g., light-headedness, tingling
of the skin, tightness of the chest, sweaty hands, and breathlessness, typically leads to a false interpretation of their
meaning. The incorrect, and usually negative, self assessment that may result, e.g., “I am losing control,” is likely to
elicit secondary emotional responses (e.g., fear) and further exacerbate the ones directly resulting from cerebral
oxygen and glucose deficits. And indeed, practitioners and trainers themselves, not familiar with the effects of
overbreathing, may unfortunately also misinterpret these secondary effects, taking them as evidence supporting their
own biases about the significance of the kinds of complaints reported by the client, e.g., “relaxation moves you
closer to yourself, and this makes you uncomfortable. Overworking is your way of protecting yourself.”
Sometimes overbreathing is deliberately induced for the very reason that it can trigger emotional memories and
states, e.g., rebirthing. Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork, widely known for its use in triggering emotional
and memory release, is an excellent example of how overbreathing lowers the threshold for emotional expression.
Some breathing inductions used in natural child birth, for example, involve extreme forms of overbreathing, based
on the premise that disorientation reduces capacity to focus on pain; from a respiratory chemistry perspective,
however, this amounts to induction of system-wide crisis with potentially adverse effects on the infant.
Overbreathing: Effects on Performance
Compromising the blood buffering system (i.e., reduced capacity to regulate acidosis) means reduced physical
capacity and endurance, ranging from limiting athletes in their pursuit of achieving peak levels of physical
performance, to contributing to the incapacitation of individuals with fatigue and unable to perform the simplest of
tasks without exhausting their supply of buffers.
Incrementally increasing the workload on an exercise bike or treadmill increases metabolism, and hence the output
of carbon dioxide. Normal ventilation means that the CO2 exhaled is consistent with level of metabolism; there is
no overbreathing. Eventually, however, when buffers become depleted and can no longer neutralize lactic and other
acid byproducts, overbreathing becomes a short-term solution to the resulting acidosis, i.e., carbonic acid is reduced,
thus offsetting the build up of other acids. Monitoring CO2 levels during exercise on an exercise bike or treadmill
permits an observer to take note of this critical point, the point at which overbreathing is itself a compensatory
response to buffer depletion, the point at which physical exhaustion can be identified. And, as described previously,
chronic overbreathing itself may lead to buffer depletion, thus ultimately reducing physical capacity and endurance
to a point where simple exercise becomes equivalent to the maximum endurance effort of an athlete.
Buffer depletion physiology has very significant implications for performance and health. Running out of buffers
with exercise equivalent to walking to work, crossing a few streets to lunch, or preparing dinner for the family
means “physical” exhaustion doing the simple physical chores that define the daily routine of life. Overbreathing
may not only lead to buffer depletion but may then also become its own short-term solution to the resulting acidosis,
i.e., a vicious circle syndrome. This state of affairs can be observed by exercising on an exercise bike or treadmill
and noting the point at which there is a drop in carbon dioxide level, the point at which overbreathing is engaged.
Professional and lay audiences both ponder the ways in which “stress” ultimately has its effects on health and
performance. What are the mediating variables that lead to behavior-physiologic deregulation? One important
contributing factor may be the way in which one encounters challenge: bracing or embracing, defensive-posturing or
life-engaging? The defensive or bracing mode often includes overbreathing (part of the “fight-flight” behavioral
configuration) that may lead to the fatigue symptoms and complaints associated with the effects of buffer depletion
and magnesium deficiency, along with the wide range of physical and psychological effects previously described.
The “fatigue” associated with overbreathing may be misidentified as “depression.” Exercise may be “prescribed”
when rest is in order, where exercise will actually exacerbate the problem and is contraindicated. Buffer depletion,
resulting from exercise and associated compensatory overbreathing, may in fact precipitate cardiac arrhythmias even
in otherwise healthy individuals. Rest will permit build-up of the buffers, but upon returning to a challenging
environment without breathing and other forms of self-management training, overbreathing is likely to be reinstated,
once again resulting in buffer depletion and a relapse of fatigue and associated effects of “stress.” Deregulated
respiratory chemistry constitutes a behavioral-physiologic mechanism that may directly account for some of the
effects of “stress” on homeostasis and self-regulation.
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Respiratory Training: General Considerations
Fritjof Capra, famed physicist and systems theorist, states his position on the mindbody dichotomy so well when he
says, “the organizing activity of living systems, at all levels of life, is mental activity” (The Web of Life, 1996). In
other words, there simply is no dichotomy, that all of life is itself inherently “mindful.” Thus, in this thesis there is
no distinction between physiological or psychological crisis; defensive posturing or bracing and life-engaging or
embracing are “mindful” frames of physiological reference, comprising what might be described as “life” postures.
These “life” postures are fundamental operating-definition culture-based concepts as can be seen in Western
psychology where there is emphasis on defensiveness, and in Eastern philosophy and practice (e.g., meditation),
where there is emphasis on embracement of chi, i.e., life or breath. Both of these postures are profoundly reflected
in the chemistry and in the mechanics of respiration.
Breathing evaluation and training bring together differing western schools of thought and tradition, including
physiology, psychology, healthcare, and human performance with the promise of weaving them together with
Eastern thinking, traditions, and practice into an active, personal, and mindful participation in behavioralphysiologic
self-regulation for health and performance.
Seeing “physiology as mindful” carries with it an important implication: it is the “ego” part of the mind that
identifies itself as “separate” from the “body,” giving rise to the mind-body dichotomy through its indignant claim
on ownership of all of the mind, wherein the mind necessarily came to be viewed as “our” unconscious, rather than
as a property of the fundamental essence of life itself and in all of its forms. Accessing the body, then, for the
“mindful physiology” oriented practitioner, means accessing the mind: intuitions, images, feelings, archetypes, and
meaning itself. Accessing the mind through body sensitivity training is fundamental to what has come to be known
as biofeedback and is the basis for breathing evaluation and training. It is little wonder that breathing is a point of
physio-spiritual connection in Eastern philosophical thinking.
As Capra points out in his book, The Web of Life, the whole is not simply greater than its parts but actually provides
for the definition, the very identity, of the parts themselves. Overbreathing sets the stage for crisis, even for trauma,
and for a consciousness of defensive posturing and bracing. It engages state-dependent behaviors, even statedependent
personalities, which are protective in nature offering the prospect of safety in a threatening world;
overbreathing becomes a doorway into a different consciousness where one may disconnect, isolate, or flee, but pay
the price of behavioral physiologic deregulation. Changing consciousness, means changing the definition of
constituent physiological dynamics: rapid heart rate is a sign of stress in the context of defensiveness, whereas it is a
sign of joy in the context of embracement. Good respiratory chemistry and mechanics set the stage for
“embracement,” rather than defensiveness, as a “life” posture. Wellness is ultimately about embracing, about the
heart, about bringing together the mindfulness of physiology with the personal consciousness. Health is about
seeking, presence, and availability, not about ego and defensiveness. When naked, don’t overbreathe, be there.
Learning about the behavioral physiology of respiration offers the prospect of bringing easy to understand, highly
practical, and easy to implement educational applications of “mindful-physiology” to healthcare and human
performance practitioners everywhere. Everyone acknowledges some measure or responsibility for breathing, as is
evidenced by everyone’s use of the pronoun “I.” Breathing training is an ideal context in which to teach people
about the mindful nature of physiology, where self-regulation training for health and performance can make a
powerful impact on the practical thinking of large audiences within a short time. The theme is: “The whole body is
the organ of the mind, not just the brain. Our minds are the music that our bodies play to the universe.”
Respiratory Training: Specific Considerations
Breathing chemistry training does NOT replace breathing mechanics training; the two together comprise true
respiratory training (i.e., getting O2 to the cells and CO2 back to the lungs). There is NO specific breathing
protocol, technique, or program that constitutes the “right one,” however, keeping respiratory chemistry in the
adaptive window is a critical consideration in most any kind of breathing training. There are numerous approaches
to teaching the mechanics of adaptive breathing that permit practitioners to integrate breathing evaluation and
training into their work based on professional background, expertise, experience. Unfortunately, however, in very
few cases is the chemistry of breathing included as a component of the training.
9
Breathing is a complex behavior. It is voluntary and involuntary. It is greatly influenced by emotion. It is
synchronized with complex speech behavior. Basic neurophysiological control of breathing originates in the
respiratory centers located in the brain stem, the pons and medulla, where breathing rate and volume are regulated
based on CO2 levels. While in a coma, breathing mechanics (rate and volume) track CO2 levels precisely. There
are other breathing centers throughout the brain including the limbic system (emotion), the speech areas of the brain,
and the frontal cortex (voluntary control). These other regulatory centers may interfere with adaptive breathing,
resulting in deregulated breathing, overbreathing that is often associated with breath holding, gasping, sighing, chest
breathing, rapid breathing, reverse breathing (contracting the diaphragm while breathing out), and so on. Training
for adaptive breathing chemistry, in most instances, means restoring regulated breathing through reinstatement of
the basic brain stem breathing reflex.
How is overbreathing identified? Without monitoring CO2 levels, there is simply no way of knowing. Use of the
capnometer is the only practical and technically reliable method for detecting it with certainty. Arterial carbon
dioxide (PaCO2) can be measured directly through invasive monitoring, or indirectly by means of measurement of
CO2 content in exhaled air. Measurement of CO2 at the end of exhalation, or at the “end” of the “tide” of the air
breathed out, is known as “end-tidal carbon dioxide,” or ETCO2, and is under normal circumstances highly
correlated with invasive arterial measurement. Capnometry is used in virtually every surgery room and critical care
unit in America, and is based on textbook physiology and highly reliable technology.*
The objective of breathing training while “at rest” is to restore proper breathing chemistry (CO2 levels), establish
breathing rhythmicity (reduction of holding, gasping, sighing), lower breathing rate, increase breathing depth, shift
the locus of breathing from chest to diaphragm, encourage nasal breathing, relax musculature during exhalation,
reduce collateral muscle activity, and establish a stable presence of high amplitude breathing heart wave activity
(parasympathetic tone, RSA). Training for good breathing chemistry involves learning how to:
(1) evaluate breathing both at rest and in the context of multiple kinds of challenge;
(2) teach the physiology and psychology of respiration;
(3) identify the sensations of overbreathing, and reinstate the basic brain stem breathing reflex;
(4) interpret physiological experience, e.g., deregulated vs. regulated breathing;
(5) train breathing mechanics: rhythmicity, volume, rate, resistance, and locus of control;
(6) instate prophylactic (deliberate) techniques for consciously disengaging or preventing overbreathing;
(7) configure new patterns of behavioral-physiologic defensive posturing, without overbreathing;
(8) establish “embracement physiology” where overbreathing is not a “mindful” component; and
(9) generalize new patterns of breathing that normalize chemistry in diverse life circumstances.
In summary, training involves: (1) education, (2) learning prophylactic techniques, (3) reinstating the basic
respiratory reflex mechanism, (4) learning new patterns of defensive posturing, and (5) learning to engage
“embracement” physiology by establishing new chemistry and its associated “physiologic mindfulness.”
Breathing evaluation and training may be useful for behavioral physiologic applications by healthcare providers and
patients, performance trainers and athletes/artists, corporate trainers and trainees, behavioral health professionals and
clients, human service providers and clients, consultants and self-improvement trainees, educators and students, and
academicians and researchers. Examples of performance training applications include: improving memory,
enhancing thinking and problem solving skills, improving concentration (playing an instrument), attention training
(e.g., attention deficit), reducing anxiety (e.g., public speaking, test taking), managing stress, managing anger,
decreasing fatigue, increasing alertness and readiness, reducing muscle tension, diminishing physical pain,
facilitating relaxation, facilitating disciplines of inner directedness (e.g., meditation), maximizing performance
training (e.g., flight training), natural child birth preparation, peak performance training (e.g., athletes and coaches),
and evaluating and improving physical condition.
*Measurement of End-Tidal CO2:
The presence of a “gas” is measured in terms of its pressure, and more specifically in terms of its relative pressure contribution to total
atmospheric pressure, i.e., its partial pressure. Total atmospheric pressure on a standard day at sea level is 760 millimeters of mercury (mmHg),
and is comprised of the partial pressures
Date: 02/08/2008
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE CHEMISTRY OF RESPIRATION
AND THE BREATHING HEART WAVE
Peter M. Litchfield, Ph.D. in California Biofeedback. Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2003)
Respiration: Chemistry and Mechanics
“Respiration” is behavioral-physiologic homeostasis, a form of self-regulatory behavior, which constitutes a
transport system for customized delivery of atmospheric oxygen to each and every tissue based on their specific
metabolic requirements, including the transport of metabolic carbon dioxide from the cells to outside air. The
“mechanics” of respiration constitute “breathing,” the use of the lungs for moving oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other
gases to and/or from the blood. The “chemistry” of respiration constitutes the physiology of moving oxygen from
the lungs to the cells, and carbon dioxide from the cells to the lungs. Optimizing respiration means good “chemistry
through good “mechanics.”
In this overview, “breathing mechanics” have reference to breathing rhythmicity (holding, gasping, sighing),
breathing rate, breathing depth (volume), locus of breathing (chest and diaphragm), breathing resistance (nose and
mouth), and collateral muscle activity for breathing regulation (muscles other than the diaphragm). “Breathing
chemistry” has reference to the ventilation of carbon dioxide through these breathing mechanics in the service of
establishing adaptive respiratory chemistry. Respiratory chemistry can be monitored by measuring changes in
exhaled carbon dioxide, to be discussed later, so as to ensure that the learning of breathing mechanics is truly in the
service of respiration.
Good breathing “mechanics” rather than good respiratory physiology, has unfortunately become almost the
exclusive focus of breathing training and learning, often along with insistence on tying it to “relaxation” training
regimens in the context of specific philosophical and/or professional agenda. As a result, it is not surprising then,
that at least 50 percent of therapists and trainers who teach breathing actually deregulate respiratory chemistry by
inducing “overbreathing” with their instructions to trainees, not realizing that they are inducing system-wide
physiological crisis through the establishment of hypocapnia, i.e., carbon dioxide deficit. Unfortunately, based on
this kind of thinking, myths and misunderstandings about “good” breathing often constitute the “working
knowledge” of professionals and lay audiences alike. Here are some of them:
Good breathing means relaxation.
No. Good breathing is important in all circumstances, whether relaxed or not.
Learning good breathing requires relaxation.
No. This would mean that during most life circumstances, breathing is maladaptive.
Diaphragmatic breathing is synonymous with good breathing.
No. In many instances one may begin to overbreathe as a result of switching from chest to diaphragm.
Good respiration is all about the mechanics of breathing.
No. Good breathing means ventilating in accordance with metabolic requirements.
Diaphragmatic, deep, slow breathing means better distribution of oxygen.
No. Mechanics may look letter perfect, but oxygen distribution may be poor.
Underbreathing, with the result of oxygen deficit, is common.
No. To the contrary, overbreathing is common.
Good breathing translates into optimizing respiratory physiology, and contrary to popular thinking, learning to
breathe well does not simply mean deep, slow, diaphragmatic breathing in the context of learning how to relax.
Adaptive breathing means regulating blood chemistry, through proper ventilation of carbon dioxide, in accordance
with metabolic and other physiologic requirements associated with all life activities and circumstances: relaxation or
stress, rest or challenge, fatigue or excitement, attention or open-focus, playing or working. Deregulated breathing
chemistry, i.e., hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency) as a result of overbreathing, means serious physiological crisis
involving system-wide compromises that involve physical and mental consequences of all kinds, to be examined
later in this overview. Evaluating, establishing, maintaining, and promoting good respiratory chemistry are
fundamental to virtually any professional practice involving breathing training. Good breathing chemistry
establishes a system-wide context conducive to optimizing health and maximizing performance.
2
Breathing training is invariably included as an important component of relaxation training, but surely does not in
and of itself constitute relaxation. Breathing may be fully optimized, and hopefully is, during times of stress and
challenge where relaxation is neither possible nor adaptive. Once good breathing chemistry and breathing
mechanics are in place, relaxation training may then also include the establishment of stable high-amplitude
breathing heart waves, i.e., parasympathetic (nervous system) tone, otherwise known as the respiratory sinus
arrhythmia (RSA) and as one of the frequency ranges (HF) of what is known as heart rate variability (HRV).
Respiratory Chemistry: The Role of Carbon Dioxide in Oxygen Distribution
Blood is circulated with great precision to specific body sites based on their local and immediate metabolic
requirements. Higher metabolism in more active tissues and cells generates higher levels of CO2 resulting in
immediate local vasodilation (relaxation of smooth muscles with the result of increasing the diameter of the vessels),
thus setting the stage for supplying the required oxygen and glucose to the associated tissues, such as to specific
regions of the brain while thinking.
Higher levels of CO2 also lead to an immediate drop in blood and extracellular fluid pH levels through the
formation of carbonic acid, thus obliging the hemoglobin to more readily distribute its oxygen to meet local
metabolic requirements. Lower levels of CO2, as a result of lower metabolism, lead to blood vessel constriction
(e.g., reduction in the diameter of the coronaries) and to higher levels of blood and extracellular fluid pH (less
carbonic acid), thus permitting oxygen and glucose to go elsewhere where metabolic requirements are greater. In
the simplest of terms, this is the biochemistry of healthy respiration.
Deregulated Respiration: Effects of Carbon Dioxide Deficit on Physiology
The most serious form of breathing deregulation is overbreathing, an all too common and serious state of
behavioral-physiologic affairs. Overbreathing is undoubtedly one of the most insidious and dangerous
behaviors/responses to environmental, task, emotional, cognitive, and relationship challenges in our daily lives.
Overbreathing can be a dangerous behavior immediately triggering and/or exacerbating a wide variety of serious
physical and mental symptoms, complaints, and deficits in health and human performance.
Overbreathing* means bringing about carbon dioxide (CO2) deficit in the blood (i.e., hypocapnia) through excessive
ventilation (increased “minute volume”) during rapid, deep, and dysrhythmic breathing, a condition that may result
in debilitating short-term and long-term physical and psychological complaints and symptoms. The slight shifts in
CO2 chemistry associated with overbreathing may cause physiological changes such as hypoxia (oxygen deficit),
cerebral vasoconstriction (brain), coronary constriction (heart), blood and extracellular alkalosis (increased pH),
cerebral glucose deficit, ischemia (localized anemia), buffer depletion (bicarbonates), bronchial constriction, gut
constriction, calcium imbalance, magnesium deficiency, and muscle fatigue, spasm (tetany), and pain.
*Note: “Overbreathing” is a behavior leading to the physiological condition known as hypocapnia, i.e., carbon dioxide deficit.
“Hyperventilation,” although nomenclature synonymous with hypocapnia in physiological terms, is often used as a clinical term to describe a
controversial psychophysiologic “syndrome” implicated in panic disorder and other clinical complaints.
Effects of Overbreathing on Cerebral O2:
Vasoconstrictive effects
Reduction of O2 Availability by 40 Percent
(Red = most O2, dark blue = least O2)
In this image, oxygen availability in the brain is reduced by 40% as a
result of about a minute of overbreathing (hyperventilation). Not only is
oxygen availability reduced, but glucose critical to brain functioning is
also markedly reduced as a result of cerebral vasoconstriction.
3
Blood is distributed based on metabolic requirement. Overbreathing is excessive ventilation of carbon dioxide,
excessive because CO2 levels in the blood no longer accurately reflect metabolic level; the ratio of metabolic CO2
to expired CO2 has shifted in favor of exhaled CO2. The consequence is a miscalculation of local metabolic
requirements that leads to less than the required amount of vasodilation, or to vasoconstriction, and thus to
potentially serious deficits of oxygen (hypoxia) and glucose (hypoglycemia) as well as of other required nutrients
for the optimal functioning of a wide variety of tissues and physiological systems (e.g., brain, heart, and lungs).
This misinformation about metabolism also triggers constriction of other smooth muscles, e.g., in the bronchioles
and the gut, thus potentially exacerbating both asthma and irritable bowel syndrome.
Carbon dioxide deficit means a reduction in carbonic acid and a corresponding shift of blood and extracellular fluid
pH in the alkaline direction, i.e., above the normal range of 7.38 – 7.40; alkalosis is an immediate consequence of
hypocapnia. Paradoxically, this results in an increase in oxygen saturation in the blood, because hemoglobin does
not encounter pH levels that accurately reflect current metabolic requirements and is thus less inclined than it would
otherwise be to release its oxygen; the pH level does not properly reflect metabolic requirements. Thus, although
oxygen saturation is maximized, oxygen distribution is withheld where in fact metabolic needs significantly exceed
those reflected by the reduced CO2 levels resulting from overbreathing.
The coupling of vasoconstriction and "disinclined" hemoglobin (because of higher pH levels) means significant
compounding of oxygen distribution problems where oxygen deficits (hypoxia) are considerably greater than those
brought about by vasoconstriction alone, e.g., deficits, in effect, that may exceed 50 percent in the brain. Combining
these effects with glucose deficit in the brain, in the heart, and in other physiological systems can precipitate,
exacerbate, and even originate serious consequences, including physiological and psychological complaints,
symptoms, and syndromes of numerous kinds (see below).
Alkalosis, i.e., increased pH due to reduced levels of CO2, leads to yet further compromises. Extracellular fluid
alkalosis increases cellular excitability and contractility (e.g., neuronal excitability in the brain) and thus actually
increases oxygen demand, anaerobic metabolism, and antioxidant depletion (caused by excitatory amino acids).
And, in fact, yet further worsening matters, alkalosis inhibits the negative feedback normally associated with lower
pH levels that limit the production of metabolic acids themselves (e.g., lactate), and hence yet further compromises
performance. Blood alkalosis leads to migration of calcium ions into muscle tissue, including both smooth (e.g.,
coronary, vasocerebral, bronchial, gut) and skeletal tissue, resulting in increased likelihood of muscle spasm
(tetany), fatigue, and pain. And, platelet aggregation is increased, thus elevating the likelihood of blood clotting.
Overbreathing is an insidious and unconscious habit, one that is not readily detectable. Overbreathing may be
precipitated at stressful times of the day, during times of defensiveness and emotionality, during information
overload, or upon the commencement of ordinary tasks through self-initiation or instructions from authority. Some
individuals overbreathe with little provocation and may do so chronically, all day without knowing it. And,
unfortunately overbreathing is even induced (often) and reinforced by professionals who teach breathing mechanics
(e.g., diaphragmatic training) in the name of relaxation, improved health, and better performance. Good chemistry
is fundamental to optimal behavioral-physiologic homeostasis, basic to optimizing health and performance.
Chronic Deregulation: Compensatory Behavioral-Physiologic Activity and its Price
Bicarbonates are required for controlling acidosis (when blood becomes less alkaline than normal, less than 7.38),
i.e., neutralizing acids, brought about through physical activity (e.g., lactic acid) as well as through other physiologic
activities (e.g., ketoacidosis as a result of diabetes). Chronic hypocapnia resulting from overbreathing ultimately
leads to compensatory renal unloading of bicarbonates (inhibition of bicarbonate reabsorption in the kidneys), which
lowers blood and intracellular pH toward normal levels, but in the end neither completely renormalizing nor
stabilizing pH levels. Unfortunately, chronic compensatory behavior may ultimately seriously compromise
buffering capabilities, resulting in reduced physical endurance and greater susceptibility to fatigue.
In addition to the loss of bicarbonates, there is also significant loss of magnesium (and phosphates) a deficiency that
may ultimately lead to an imbalanced magnesium-calcium ratio critical to muscle functioning, resulting in increased
likelihood of muscle fatigue, weakness, and spasm.
4
Although the blood pH, i.e. alkalosis, is reduced as a result of this compensatory behavior, and hemoglobin
distributes its oxygen more consistently with metabolic requirements, smooth muscle constriction and its
consequences remain a chronic condition (e.g., cerebral vasoconstriction, coronary constriction, bronchial
constriction, and gut constriction).
Note: Individuals suffering with diabetes may overbreathe as a means to controlling ketoacidosis, i.e., reducing levels of carbonic acid. This is
why biofeedback for “relaxation training,” for example, was contraindicated for such individuals. Normalizing CO2 levels implicit in relaxation
training, without proper attention to matter of chemistry, might well result in acidosis. The “price” for compensatory overbreathing behavior,
however, is high and nevertheless needs to be seriously addressed.
Overbreathing: Effects on Health
Overbreathing, based on the chemistry of breathing described above, can trigger or exacerbate physical and
psychological complaints such as: shortness of breath, breathlessness, chest tightness and pressure, chest pain,
feelings of suffocation, sweaty palms, cold hands, tingling of the skin, numbness, heart palpitations, irregular heart
beat, anxiety, apprehension, emotional outbursts, stress, tenseness, fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, dry mouth,
nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, fainting, black-out, blurred vision, confusion, disorientation, attention deficit,
poor thinking, poor memory, poor concentration, impaired judgment, problem solving deficit, reduced pain
threshold, headache, trembling, twitching, shivering, muscle tension, muscle spasms, stiffness, abdominal cramps
and bloatedness. It is little wonder, then, why surveys have found that up to 60 percent of all ambulance calls in
major US cities are the result of overbreathing!
The significance of the effects of this little known but thoroughly documented physiology can be put into
perspective knowing that surveys suggest that 10 to 25 percent of the US population suffers from chronic
overbreathing, and that over half of us overbreathe on frequent occasion! The following is a quotation from a book
chapter written by Dr. Herbert Fensterheim (Chapter 9, Behavioral and Psychological Approaches to Breathing
Disorders, 1994), a highly respected and internationally prominent author and psychotherapist, and it points to the
fundamental importance of evaluating respiratory chemistry, i.e., overbreathing, in the mental health professions,
regardless of a practitioner’s school of thought or treatment paradigm:
“Given the high frequency of incorrect breathing patterns in the adult population, attention to the symptoms of
hyperventilation [overbreathing] should be a routine part of every psychological evaluation, regardless of the specific
presenting complaints. Faulty breathing patterns affect patients differently. They may be the central problem,
directly bringing on the pathological symptoms; they may magnify, exacerbate, or maintain symptoms brought on by
other causes; or they may be involved in peripheral problems that must be ameliorated before psychotherapeutic
access is gained to the core treatment targets. Their manifestations may be direct and obvious, as when overbreathing
leads to a panic attack, or they may initiate or maintain subtle symptoms that perpetuate an entire personality
disorder. Diagnosis of hyperventilatory [overbreathing] conditions is crucial.”
Chronic vasoconstriction, magnesium-calcium imbalance, buffer depletion, and alkalosis (higher levels of blood and
extracellular pH levels) as a result of overbreathing may in predisposed individuals trigger or exacerbate: phobias,
migraine phenomena, hypertension, attention disorder, asthma attacks, angina attacks, heart attacks, cardiac
arrhythmias, thrombosis (blood clotting) panic attacks, hypoglycemia, epileptic seizures, altitude sickness, muscle
weakness and spasm, sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbances (apnea), allergy, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),
repetitive strain injury (RSI), and chronic fatigue.
In an important recent review article on the subject of hypocapnia (CO2 deficit) in the New England Journal of
Medicine (J. Laffey and B. Kavanagh, 4 July 2002), the authors say:
“…extensive data from a spectrum of physiological systems indicate that hypocapnia has the potential to propagate or
initiate pathological processes. As a common aspect of many acute disorders, hypocapnia may have a pathogenic role in the
development of systemic diseases” (pages 44 and 46). And, they go on to say, “Increasing evidence suggests that
hypocapnia appears to induce substantial adverse physiological and medical effects” (page 51).
Long-term vasoconstriction may also lead to ischemia in the brain and the heart (anemia in cells not adequately
supplied with oxygen), result in reduced neurotransmitter synthesis that contributes to the onset of depression and
other psychological syndromes, and chronically lower the threshold for most of the complaints listed above, e.g.,
chronic vasoconstriction and increased systemic vascular resistance may reduce the threshold for elevated blood
pressure or precipitate angina attack in predisposed individuals.
5
It is estimated that the primary complaint of one third of all patients in general medical practice is fatigue, a
condition that may actually be brought on and/or exacerbated by buffer depletion resulting from overbreathing, and
a condition (fatigue) in and of itself that can be assessed through CO2 measurement (capnometry) to be described
later in this overview. On this basis alone, some prominent physicians in both Europe and America assert that
capnometers, like blood pressure devices, should be on the desktop of every general and family practitioner.
It is estimated that more than a third of all those who suffer with asthma overbreathe, a condition potentially leading
to immediate bronchial constriction and asthma attack. The “struggle” to breathe and fear of “not getting enough
air” can easily lead to “panicky” breathing where vicious circle overbreathing may result in a progressive worsening
of hypocapnia-induced bronchial constriction and increased airway resistance. Teaching good breathing mechanics
to people with asthma through diaphragmatic breathing can very significantly improve breathing efficiency by
increasing volume, reducing rate, establishing rhythmicity, and eliminating collateral muscle movement not required
for good breathing. In effect, it reduces the “struggle” to breathe by introducing an effortlessness form of breathing
that also provides for a sense of mastery over the debilitating effects of the condition. This training, however, can
itself easily result in overbreathing through a combination of the “success” of the method itself (increased efficiency,
volume) and the continued motivation “to get enough air,” and where neither the therapist nor the patient are
familiar with overbreathing and its effects.
Documented medical savings of 45 percent over a five year period in heart attack patients following only six
breathing training sessions, led to legislation in Holland that all cardiac rehabilitation centers offer breathing training
to patients. Unfortunately, this little known research and its highly practical implications remain relatively unknown
to most professionals working in American cardiac rehabilitation centers, where the importance of behavioral
respiratory physiology has simply not been introduced. The importance of breathing training in cardiovascular
health is yet further supported by the article in the New England Journal of Medicine (page 50), where the authors
point out that “hypocapnia has been clearly linked to the development of arrhythmias, both in critically ill patients
and in patients with panic disorder.”
How can “simple” breathing training significantly influence the outcome of cardiovascular rehabilitation in patients
who overbreathe? Consider the following: A survey of studies on overbreathing and coronary constriction show a
reduction of blood volume by about 50 percent (a 23 percent reduction in coronary diameter), a significant reduction
in compromised individuals; and, extreme coronary constriction as a result of overbreathing has also been identified
in a subpopulation of patients. Increased platelet aggregation brought about by hypocapnia may precipitate blood
clotting, i.e., thrombosis. Buffer depletion resulting from long-term overbreathing, as described earlier, may also
significantly contribute to the onset of arrhythmias and other cardiovascular abnormalities. Increased vascular
resistance as a result of vasoconstriction and alkalosis brought about through chronic overbreathing may trigger
hypertension in predisposed individuals. Hypocapnia leads to cellular excitability and to increased contractility of
the heart, increasing oxygen demand while oxygen availability is sharply decreased. And, the upward pH shift
brings on calcium migration into muscle tissue, increasing the likelihood of arterial (coronary) spasm. Normalizing
breathing chemistry reverses these effects.
The New England Journal of Medicine article goes on to point out that clinically significant overbreathing in
pregnant women is commonplace, and that during childbirth, “…further lowering of the partial pressure of arterial
CO2 - even for a short duration - such as during anesthesia for cesarean section - may have serious adverse effects
on the fetus.” The implications of this statement are staggering when considering that some child-birthing
techniques used by many thousands of women (western) worldwide actually engaged women in the practice of
extreme forms of overbreathing during childbirth.
Overbreathing during wakefulness is seriously implicated as an important variable in the origin and in the onset of
sleep apnea. “Hypocapnia is a common finding in patients with sleep apnea and may be pathogenic,” according to
the same article in New England Journal of Medicine.
The seriousness of the effects of hypocapnia are made absolutely clear in the New England Journal of Medicine
review article, written for the express purpose of warning physicians about their use of hypocapnia as a means to
controlling symptoms and conditions resulting from injury and disease, as well as its widespread use in general
anesthesia. In fact, the impact of hypocapnia on cerebral blood flow and blood volume is so dramatic, according the
article, that almost 50 percent of emergency physicians and 36 percent of neurosurgeons actually induce hypocapnia
to control of life-threatening intracranial swelling resulting from head trauma or brain injury.
6
Overbreathing: Effects on Cognition
Cognitive and perceptual deficits are perhaps most clearly understood by newcomers to this physiology by
examining the effects of hypoxia on the behavior of pilots. Every pilot knows about the cognitive and perceptual
deficits resulting from the effects of hypoxia in high altitude chambers, including impaired decision-making,
perceptual motor skills, information processing, problem solving, task completion, memory, thinking, and
communication effectiveness. Serious cerebral hypoxia means that even the easiest of tasks become significant
mental challenges, e.g., simple navigational calculations during an engine-out procedure. In fact, overbreathing is
routinely monitored in fighter pilots while in flight. Particularly noteworthy, as is often emphasized by on-looking
observers, is the fact that these performance decrements go completely undetected by those actually suffering from
the hypoxia. Overbreathing at sea level and the resulting hypoxia produce precisely these same effects!
The potent impact of overbreathing on cerebral functioning is made clear in the recent article in the New England
Journal of Medicine in the description of the use of hypocapnia for controlling intracranial swelling in otherwise
life-threatening brain trauma circumstances: “Hypocapnic alkalosis decreases cerebral blood flow by means of
potent cerebral vasoconstriction, thereby lowering intracranial pressure.” The dramatic impact of overbreathing on
cognitive function is put into further perspective, when the authors describe the widespread and deliberate induction
of hypocapnia during general anesthesia (e.g., for reducing the need for sedatives), as follows:
“The causative role of hypocapnia in postoperative cognitive dysfunction is underscored by the finding that exposure to an
elevated partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide [i.e., normalizing CO2 levels] during anesthesia appears to enhance
postoperative neuropsychologic performance.”
Cognitive, perceptual, and motor skill deficits, brought about by hypoxia (oxygen deficit) are yet further exacerbated
by cerebral hypoglycemia (glucose deficit, as a result of vasoconstriction) that may compromise brain functioning to
a yet greater degree. The potentially debilitating combination of cerebral oxygen and glucose deficits resulting
directly from overbreathing may seriously compromise and/or disrupt ability to attend, focus, concentrate, imagine,
rehearse the details of an action (e.g., golf swing), initiate performance, play a musical instrument, sing, engage in
public speaking, and perform all kinds of other complex tasks.
There is a fine line between vigilance and stress. In the transition from vigilance to stress, i.e., from positive
attentiveness to guarded defensiveness (fight-flight behavioral patterns), overbreathing may be immediately instated
with its debilitating effects occurring within less than a minute. This same kind of transition may occur when taskdemand
exceeds a certain level of complexity or when relationship challenge exceeds a certain level of emotionality:
overbreathing as a component of defensive posturing takes over. Task-induced overbreathing for example can
insidiously and unsuspectingly contribute to the degradation of human performance, insidious because the performer
is neither likely to be aware that overbreathing is taking place, nor have any idea whatsoever as to its effects.
Performers who are task-induced “overbreathers” are good candidates for breathing chemistry training.
The implications of overbreathing and its regulation for working with children and adults suffering with attention
deficits are significant. Low cerebral CO2 as a result of overbreathing shifts the EEG power spectrum downwards
and elevates the presence of theta EEG activity, the frequency domain of principal interest to neurofeedback
practitioners who seek to reduce theta activity in clients who suffer attention deficit disorder. Before beginning such
work it truly behooves practitioners to normalize the chemistry of breathing, a fundamental system-wide
physiological consideration, before beginning neurofeedback or other forms of behavioral-physiologic training.
Overbreathing: its Effects on Emotion
Cerebral hypoxia and cerebral hypoglycemia not only have profound effects on cognition and perception but also on
emotionality: apprehension, anxiety, anger, frustration, fear, panic, stress, vulnerability, and feelings of low selfesteem.
Cerebral (brain) oxygen and glucose deficits may trigger “disinhibition” of emotional states, i.e., release of
emotions otherwise held “in check.” Loss of emotional control, intensification of emotional states, and exacerbation
of debilitating stressful states of consciousness may result from overbreathing in challenging and adverse
circumstances, e.g., flying phobias and debilitating public speaking anxiety. Emotional discharge in challenging
environments itself may, of course, further exacerbate cognitive and other performance deficits.
7
Failure to understand the source of physical sensations resulting from overbreathing, e.g., light-headedness, tingling
of the skin, tightness of the chest, sweaty hands, and breathlessness, typically leads to a false interpretation of their
meaning. The incorrect, and usually negative, self assessment that may result, e.g., “I am losing control,” is likely to
elicit secondary emotional responses (e.g., fear) and further exacerbate the ones directly resulting from cerebral
oxygen and glucose deficits. And indeed, practitioners and trainers themselves, not familiar with the effects of
overbreathing, may unfortunately also misinterpret these secondary effects, taking them as evidence supporting their
own biases about the significance of the kinds of complaints reported by the client, e.g., “relaxation moves you
closer to yourself, and this makes you uncomfortable. Overworking is your way of protecting yourself.”
Sometimes overbreathing is deliberately induced for the very reason that it can trigger emotional memories and
states, e.g., rebirthing. Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork, widely known for its use in triggering emotional
and memory release, is an excellent example of how overbreathing lowers the threshold for emotional expression.
Some breathing inductions used in natural child birth, for example, involve extreme forms of overbreathing, based
on the premise that disorientation reduces capacity to focus on pain; from a respiratory chemistry perspective,
however, this amounts to induction of system-wide crisis with potentially adverse effects on the infant.
Overbreathing: Effects on Performance
Compromising the blood buffering system (i.e., reduced capacity to regulate acidosis) means reduced physical
capacity and endurance, ranging from limiting athletes in their pursuit of achieving peak levels of physical
performance, to contributing to the incapacitation of individuals with fatigue and unable to perform the simplest of
tasks without exhausting their supply of buffers.
Incrementally increasing the workload on an exercise bike or treadmill increases metabolism, and hence the output
of carbon dioxide. Normal ventilation means that the CO2 exhaled is consistent with level of metabolism; there is
no overbreathing. Eventually, however, when buffers become depleted and can no longer neutralize lactic and other
acid byproducts, overbreathing becomes a short-term solution to the resulting acidosis, i.e., carbonic acid is reduced,
thus offsetting the build up of other acids. Monitoring CO2 levels during exercise on an exercise bike or treadmill
permits an observer to take note of this critical point, the point at which overbreathing is itself a compensatory
response to buffer depletion, the point at which physical exhaustion can be identified. And, as described previously,
chronic overbreathing itself may lead to buffer depletion, thus ultimately reducing physical capacity and endurance
to a point where simple exercise becomes equivalent to the maximum endurance effort of an athlete.
Buffer depletion physiology has very significant implications for performance and health. Running out of buffers
with exercise equivalent to walking to work, crossing a few streets to lunch, or preparing dinner for the family
means “physical” exhaustion doing the simple physical chores that define the daily routine of life. Overbreathing
may not only lead to buffer depletion but may then also become its own short-term solution to the resulting acidosis,
i.e., a vicious circle syndrome. This state of affairs can be observed by exercising on an exercise bike or treadmill
and noting the point at which there is a drop in carbon dioxide level, the point at which overbreathing is engaged.
Professional and lay audiences both ponder the ways in which “stress” ultimately has its effects on health and
performance. What are the mediating variables that lead to behavior-physiologic deregulation? One important
contributing factor may be the way in which one encounters challenge: bracing or embracing, defensive-posturing or
life-engaging? The defensive or bracing mode often includes overbreathing (part of the “fight-flight” behavioral
configuration) that may lead to the fatigue symptoms and complaints associated with the effects of buffer depletion
and magnesium deficiency, along with the wide range of physical and psychological effects previously described.
The “fatigue” associated with overbreathing may be misidentified as “depression.” Exercise may be “prescribed”
when rest is in order, where exercise will actually exacerbate the problem and is contraindicated. Buffer depletion,
resulting from exercise and associated compensatory overbreathing, may in fact precipitate cardiac arrhythmias even
in otherwise healthy individuals. Rest will permit build-up of the buffers, but upon returning to a challenging
environment without breathing and other forms of self-management training, overbreathing is likely to be reinstated,
once again resulting in buffer depletion and a relapse of fatigue and associated effects of “stress.” Deregulated
respiratory chemistry constitutes a behavioral-physiologic mechanism that may directly account for some of the
effects of “stress” on homeostasis and self-regulation.
8
Respiratory Training: General Considerations
Fritjof Capra, famed physicist and systems theorist, states his position on the mindbody dichotomy so well when he
says, “the organizing activity of living systems, at all levels of life, is mental activity” (The Web of Life, 1996). In
other words, there simply is no dichotomy, that all of life is itself inherently “mindful.” Thus, in this thesis there is
no distinction between physiological or psychological crisis; defensive posturing or bracing and life-engaging or
embracing are “mindful” frames of physiological reference, comprising what might be described as “life” postures.
These “life” postures are fundamental operating-definition culture-based concepts as can be seen in Western
psychology where there is emphasis on defensiveness, and in Eastern philosophy and practice (e.g., meditation),
where there is emphasis on embracement of chi, i.e., life or breath. Both of these postures are profoundly reflected
in the chemistry and in the mechanics of respiration.
Breathing evaluation and training bring together differing western schools of thought and tradition, including
physiology, psychology, healthcare, and human performance with the promise of weaving them together with
Eastern thinking, traditions, and practice into an active, personal, and mindful participation in behavioralphysiologic
self-regulation for health and performance.
Seeing “physiology as mindful” carries with it an important implication: it is the “ego” part of the mind that
identifies itself as “separate” from the “body,” giving rise to the mind-body dichotomy through its indignant claim
on ownership of all of the mind, wherein the mind necessarily came to be viewed as “our” unconscious, rather than
as a property of the fundamental essence of life itself and in all of its forms. Accessing the body, then, for the
“mindful physiology” oriented practitioner, means accessing the mind: intuitions, images, feelings, archetypes, and
meaning itself. Accessing the mind through body sensitivity training is fundamental to what has come to be known
as biofeedback and is the basis for breathing evaluation and training. It is little wonder that breathing is a point of
physio-spiritual connection in Eastern philosophical thinking.
As Capra points out in his book, The Web of Life, the whole is not simply greater than its parts but actually provides
for the definition, the very identity, of the parts themselves. Overbreathing sets the stage for crisis, even for trauma,
and for a consciousness of defensive posturing and bracing. It engages state-dependent behaviors, even statedependent
personalities, which are protective in nature offering the prospect of safety in a threatening world;
overbreathing becomes a doorway into a different consciousness where one may disconnect, isolate, or flee, but pay
the price of behavioral physiologic deregulation. Changing consciousness, means changing the definition of
constituent physiological dynamics: rapid heart rate is a sign of stress in the context of defensiveness, whereas it is a
sign of joy in the context of embracement. Good respiratory chemistry and mechanics set the stage for
“embracement,” rather than defensiveness, as a “life” posture. Wellness is ultimately about embracing, about the
heart, about bringing together the mindfulness of physiology with the personal consciousness. Health is about
seeking, presence, and availability, not about ego and defensiveness. When naked, don’t overbreathe, be there.
Learning about the behavioral physiology of respiration offers the prospect of bringing easy to understand, highly
practical, and easy to implement educational applications of “mindful-physiology” to healthcare and human
performance practitioners everywhere. Everyone acknowledges some measure or responsibility for breathing, as is
evidenced by everyone’s use of the pronoun “I.” Breathing training is an ideal context in which to teach people
about the mindful nature of physiology, where self-regulation training for health and performance can make a
powerful impact on the practical thinking of large audiences within a short time. The theme is: “The whole body is
the organ of the mind, not just the brain. Our minds are the music that our bodies play to the universe.”
Respiratory Training: Specific Considerations
Breathing chemistry training does NOT replace breathing mechanics training; the two together comprise true
respiratory training (i.e., getting O2 to the cells and CO2 back to the lungs). There is NO specific breathing
protocol, technique, or program that constitutes the “right one,” however, keeping respiratory chemistry in the
adaptive window is a critical consideration in most any kind of breathing training. There are numerous approaches
to teaching the mechanics of adaptive breathing that permit practitioners to integrate breathing evaluation and
training into their work based on professional background, expertise, experience. Unfortunately, however, in very
few cases is the chemistry of breathing included as a component of the training.
9
Breathing is a complex behavior. It is voluntary and involuntary. It is greatly influenced by emotion. It is
synchronized with complex speech behavior. Basic neurophysiological control of breathing originates in the
respiratory centers located in the brain stem, the pons and medulla, where breathing rate and volume are regulated
based on CO2 levels. While in a coma, breathing mechanics (rate and volume) track CO2 levels precisely. There
are other breathing centers throughout the brain including the limbic system (emotion), the speech areas of the brain,
and the frontal cortex (voluntary control). These other regulatory centers may interfere with adaptive breathing,
resulting in deregulated breathing, overbreathing that is often associated with breath holding, gasping, sighing, chest
breathing, rapid breathing, reverse breathing (contracting the diaphragm while breathing out), and so on. Training
for adaptive breathing chemistry, in most instances, means restoring regulated breathing through reinstatement of
the basic brain stem breathing reflex.
How is overbreathing identified? Without monitoring CO2 levels, there is simply no way of knowing. Use of the
capnometer is the only practical and technically reliable method for detecting it with certainty. Arterial carbon
dioxide (PaCO2) can be measured directly through invasive monitoring, or indirectly by means of measurement of
CO2 content in exhaled air. Measurement of CO2 at the end of exhalation, or at the “end” of the “tide” of the air
breathed out, is known as “end-tidal carbon dioxide,” or ETCO2, and is under normal circumstances highly
correlated with invasive arterial measurement. Capnometry is used in virtually every surgery room and critical care
unit in America, and is based on textbook physiology and highly reliable technology.*
The objective of breathing training while “at rest” is to restore proper breathing chemistry (CO2 levels), establish
breathing rhythmicity (reduction of holding, gasping, sighing), lower breathing rate, increase breathing depth, shift
the locus of breathing from chest to diaphragm, encourage nasal breathing, relax musculature during exhalation,
reduce collateral muscle activity, and establish a stable presence of high amplitude breathing heart wave activity
(parasympathetic tone, RSA). Training for good breathing chemistry involves learning how to:
(1) evaluate breathing both at rest and in the context of multiple kinds of challenge;
(2) teach the physiology and psychology of respiration;
(3) identify the sensations of overbreathing, and reinstate the basic brain stem breathing reflex;
(4) interpret physiological experience, e.g., deregulated vs. regulated breathing;
(5) train breathing mechanics: rhythmicity, volume, rate, resistance, and locus of control;
(6) instate prophylactic (deliberate) techniques for consciously disengaging or preventing overbreathing;
(7) configure new patterns of behavioral-physiologic defensive posturing, without overbreathing;
(8) establish “embracement physiology” where overbreathing is not a “mindful” component; and
(9) generalize new patterns of breathing that normalize chemistry in diverse life circumstances.
In summary, training involves: (1) education, (2) learning prophylactic techniques, (3) reinstating the basic
respiratory reflex mechanism, (4) learning new patterns of defensive posturing, and (5) learning to engage
“embracement” physiology by establishing new chemistry and its associated “physiologic mindfulness.”
Breathing evaluation and training may be useful for behavioral physiologic applications by healthcare providers and
patients, performance trainers and athletes/artists, corporate trainers and trainees, behavioral health professionals and
clients, human service providers and clients, consultants and self-improvement trainees, educators and students, and
academicians and researchers. Examples of performance training applications include: improving memory,
enhancing thinking and problem solving skills, improving concentration (playing an instrument), attention training
(e.g., attention deficit), reducing anxiety (e.g., public speaking, test taking), managing stress, managing anger,
decreasing fatigue, increasing alertness and readiness, reducing muscle tension, diminishing physical pain,
facilitating relaxation, facilitating disciplines of inner directedness (e.g., meditation), maximizing performance
training (e.g., flight training), natural child birth preparation, peak performance training (e.g., athletes and coaches),
and evaluating and improving physical condition.
*Measurement of End-Tidal CO2:
The presence of a “gas” is measured in terms of its pressure, and more specifically in terms of its relative pressure contribution to total
atmospheric pressure, i.e., its partial pressure. Total atmospheric pressure on a standard day at sea level is 760 millimeters of mercury (mmHg),
and is comprised of the partial pressures
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