Anxious? Irritable? Stressed Out? Maybe You're Breathing Too Fast

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul 05, 2007 -
Scottsdale, Arizona, July 5, 2007 -- You’re walking along a beautiful beach and you find yourself filled with tension and anxiety. You’re sitting at home trying to relax and you find yourself fearful and apprehensive. You’re talking to a friend on the phone and you notice that you’re irritable and out of sorts. You're at work and you just cannot concentrate. Time to go for psychotherapy? Not necessarily—at least not according to Dennis Lewis, the author of highly acclaimed books and CDs on the relationship of breathing to health.

Lewis maintains that these negative emotional experiences can be the result of excessively fast breathing--also referred to as "overbreathing." This kind of breathing, called hyperventilation, often occurs when we take quick, shallow breaths from the top of our chest. It also frequently occurs when we breathe through our mouths. He points out that although the average text-book breathing rate for people at rest is about 12 to 17 times a minute, many of us breathe even faster than this. And when we do, we will generally find ourselves anxious, irritable, apprehensive, and even fearful—all for no apparent reason. He also believes that even the breathing rate of 12-17 times a minute is often faster than it needs to be and is itself often a subtle form of chronic hyperventilation. "People who undertake qigong (chi kung), Tai Chi, yoga, breath therapy, or other such practices, often reduce their breathing rate to between 4-10 breaths a minute."

"It's important to understand the role of carbon dioxide in helping to ensure the efficient utilization of oxygen in the body, which is absolutely imperative for maintaining good health. When our breathing rate is too high, that is, when we breathe too fast," Lewis explains, "we reduce the level of carbon dioxide in our blood below its optimum level. This reduced level of carbon dioxide causes many problems. For example, it causes the arteries, including the carotid artery going to the brain, to constrict, thus reducing the flow of blood throughout the body. It also makes it more difficult for the red blood cells to release oxygen to the cells of the brain and body. When we have too little carbon dioxide, our brain and body will experience a shortage of oxygen no matter how much oxygen we may breathe into our lungs. This lack of oxygen switches on the sympathetic nervous system—our ‘fight or flight’ reflex—which makes us tense, anxious and irritable. It also reduces our ability to think clearly, and tends to put us at the mercy of obsessive thoughts and images."

According to Lewis, however, the effects of chronic hyperventilation (a breathing rate that is too high) go far beyond these mental and emotional symptoms. Lewis states that some researchers and medical doctors, including Professor Konstantin Buteyko from Russia, now believe on the basis of many studies that the overly high breathing rate of chronic hyperventilation is instrumental in some 200 medical problems and diseases, including asthma, heart disease, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, memory loss, sinusitis, arthritis, panic attacks, stress, rhinitis, headaches, heartburn, and many more.

Lewis points out that although chronic hyperventilation can be the result of underlying emotional or psychological problems, it can also be the result of bad breathing habits. One such habit is mouth breathing, which releases huge quantities of carbon dioxide very quickly. It is very important, therefore to learn how to breathe mainly through your nose is the normal activities of your daily life. Chronic hyperventilation can also be the result of poor posture, excessive muscular tension, poor diet, and the prevailing image of the hard, flat belly that we find in fashion and fitness magazines. "To breathe naturally," says Lewis, "is to breathe with our whole body. For this. we not only need a flexible, unconstricted ribcage, but also a supple belly. Our belly needs to be able to expand on inhalation and retract on exhalation."

According to Lewis, this bellows-like movement of the belly supports the upward and downward movement of the diaphragm. When the belly expands on inhalation, the diaphragm can expand farther downward into the abdomen, which allows the lungs to expand more fully. When the belly retracts on exhalation, the diaphragm can relax farther upward helping to empty the lungs. The diaphragm's increased downward and upward range of movement not only allows the lungs to take in and release air with fewer, slower, more-coordinated breaths, but it also helps to massage all the internal organs. This "internal massage," says Lewis, has a healthful impact on digestion, elimination, blood flow, the immune system, and the nervous system.

Lewis, the cofounder of a highly successful technology-related business, has been studying the breathing process for the last 30 years in a variety of disciplines. After he sold his business 17 years ago to a large English firm, he found himself with an abdominal pain that his doctors could not cure. During this period, he met a bodyworker who was able to alleviate the problem in several sessions. The practitioner used a technique called Chi Nei Tsang—a form of internal-organ energy massage and breathwork brought to the West by Taoist master Mantak Chia. Lewis found this approach so helpful that he became a certified practitioner and worked for awhile in an acupuncture clinic in San Francisco.

Lewis says that it was Chi Nei Tsang that inspired him to write his first book The Tao of Natural Breathing (http://www.authentic-breathing.com/tao-breathing.htm) and develop his audio program Natural Breathing  (http://www.authentic-breathing.com/breathing-metaphor.htm). "As I began working on ordinary people with various physical and emotional problems," says Lewis, "I saw that many of these problems were related to their breathing. I also saw that most of us are unaware of our bad breathing habits and have little understanding of how these habits undermine our health and well-being."

Lewis says he wrote the book and developed his audio program so that people could begin to explore this important subject for themselves. "Breathing exercises are a dime a dozen," says Lewis, "especially advanced exercises such as breath retention and alternate nostril breathing. You can walk into almost any bookstore and find a variety of books and CDs promoting such exercises. What you can’t usually find in these stores, however, are books and tapes with a clear understanding of natural breathing and of how the way we breathe, including our breathing rate, relates to the various inner and outer aspects of our lives—not just to the amount of oxygen we take in, but also to our ability to ward off disease, to think clearly, to sense and feel the needs and emotions that are motivating our behavior, and so on. Until we begin to have this understanding, and some experience of natural breathing, many breathing exercises can actually be detrimental to our health and well-being." His book Free Your Breath, Free Your Life (http://www.freeyourbreath.com) goes deeper into these issues.

One example Lewis gives of how breathing exercises can undermine our health is deep breathing. "Deep breathing is not the panacea it is made out to be," says Lewis, "especially when it is forced. Many in today's stressful world don't have sufficient body awareness, diaphragmatic strength, and breathing coordination to breathe deeply without hyperventilating. People who try to breathe deeply often suck in their bellies and expand their chests, which is a very inefficient form of shallow breathing. Such deep-breathing exercises improperly done can bring about even more hyperventilation, weaken the diaphragm, and cause more stressful symptoms. In any case, our breathing was never intended to always be deep, but rather to be spontaneously and naturally responsive to the needs of the moment."