Breathing, Decreased Carbon Dioxide Levels, and Anxiety/Panic Symptoms
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Most of what I know about the physiology of breathing comes from the book The Oxygen Advantage. What the book says, and I failed to notice, is that decreased carbon dioxide levels can lead to symptoms that resemble those experienced during anxiety and panic attacks.
Dizziness, lightheadedness, dry mouth, heart palpitations, nausea. That's what I've experienced intermittently over the past three months and it was making my life miserable. I was at a loss for where the symptoms were coming from because I didn't think I was anxious over the state of the world (at least not too much).
After a discussion with an Emergency Room doctor who happens to be an online client, I thought about the Oxygen Advantage book, and decided to retry the exercises. It's been about three weeks of breath training and I haven't experienced the symptoms since then. It turns out that breathing less, and breathing very lightly, will lead to an increase of carbon dioxide and normalized physiology. All good things.
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Hey there, my name is Neal Hallinan.
The purpose of this channel is to help people understand and resolve chronic muscular and joint pain, primarily through the discipline of Postural Restoration.
As someone who lived with chronic pain for many years of my life, I know how debilitating and isolating it can be. But I also know it can be resolved.
I hold the following credentials:
Postural Restoration Trained (PRT)
Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCS)
Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT)
Amateur Historian (AH, my own self-designation)
I live and work in the great state of New Jersey, USA.
I offer one-on-one training as well as online consultations via Skype. Feel free to e-mail me at Nealhallinan@gmail.com for more info.
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Subscribe to my channel here: / @nealhallinan
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For an example of typical exercises for a beginner program, you can look here:
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Please note, this is quite generic and not sufficient for everybody!
For further information about Postural Restoration defined patterns, check out these videos and blog posts.
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• What is the Left AIC p...
• Introduction to the Ri...
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• RTMCC Pattern Basics
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As a firefighter, I have low C02 levels, Im convinced its from low level stressors (no sleep and unaddressed trauma from rescue/fire calls. Im retiring in a year after 31+ years. I honestly cannot wait.
God bless you
In EMDR therapists make patients look from left to right repeatedly. That turns off the Amygdala and therefore fear and anxiety states.
Many thanks for posting your story Neal and the impact of breathing exercises to address biochemistry. Would love to see greater awareness of functional breathing - biochemical, biomechanical and cadence breathing in psychotherapy. Sleep also needs to be addressed. all the best. Patrick
I appreciate you sharing your experience and glad that you are finding such helpful tools. I have James Nestor's book Breathe ready to read because I've heard about amazing benefits of nose breathing versus mouth nreathing esp when sleeping. Mouth taping is a big help for those who just can't keep their mouths shut while sleeping, might be a freudian thing but who knows. I also have learned to not resist during that panic when it strikes at night, I was taught to let it happen and breathe through it while telling my body that "this will pass, don't fight anything, accept it with love even when it's at it's scariest." It has helped me fall back asleep which is important for not relying on getting up and breaking your cycle everytime this happens. It does subside eventually if you stay with it. Once all medical conditions have been ruled out, I think it important to reduce fear patterning that so many of these physical symptoms trigger for us, I like Joe Dispenza and Mooji. I agree, we need eachother to heal, we are all one. Blessings ♥
I read The Oxygen Advantage on your recommendation this past summer and, using its techniques, was able to completely eliminate a breathing issue I had dealt with for years. I used to have episodes where I felt as though I couldn't take a full breath, and during these episodes I would repeatedly take deep breaths (through my mouth) or yawn in an effort to get a satisfying breath (but find myself largely unable to). These episodes would often last for a few hours and occur every day for a few days or weeks in a row before disappearing for a while. I couldn't figure out what was causing them, as they didn't really seem to correlate with stress, the weather, etc. It turns out I was just breathing too much! I am very, very thankful to have learned about that book.
Awesome. I used to feel that same breath inadequacy when I was in the 8th grade. Glad you are feeling better!
You breathe too much only if previously you do not breathe enough. Basically what happens is that when you work at the computer you hold your breath most of the time, so you basically hypoventilate. And after you finish your work your body has to compensate to bring back your ph, so you hyperventilate. Just google respiratory alkalosis and acidosis and you will figure it out. None of them is good, we need to find the balance, so that our ph does not slide like that every day.
How are u now jean?
@@katrinatorres2526 Totally fine! I will say that I'm generally breathing a lot better thanks to postural restoration, but I haven't experienced any of the issues I described since I did the "breathing reset" exercises in Oxygen Advantage, and I stopped using the exercises as soon as I felt better. These days I'm careful to avoid breathing too heavily (i.e. gulping air and sighing it out), but other than that I really don't think about it much at all. So I'm still very happy to have read that book!
After discovering this channel one week ago I was enthralled by PRI. Neal is an excellent speaker as well, I'm learning. Just a few short comments some positive, some less than so. I start by saying that I recognise that it takes many years to grasp the subtitles of the subject with many layers underneath layers of knowledge and intuition to connect many dots. I've just got the basics after watching dozens of videos here. However, as PRI is also aimed at breathing - the thing that attracted me - it seems to me that PRI is supposed to bring one out of the fight-or-flight situation by relaxing the right side of the body by "unlocking" or understanding the pelvic tilt, patterns, the unbalanced of the asymmetry because of an exaggerated dominance of the right side for some reasons. So, ten years of PRI, and Neal having tested personally on his body and mind, that should at least create a very relaxed state even supported by meditation, as Neal mentioned Buddhism here.
Yet, all the symptoms described here sound like the aftermath or experiencing of what has been happening in the last 3 years, very sad, well a fraud if you ask me. I don't think it's PRI, I think it works very well. I think Neal has the wrong spirituality to go with it. If that worked, I mean, are you joking me, PRI plus the transcendental Buddhist meditation would make one so strong it wouldn't even touch him/her. But we are all humans after all... I think these non biblical eastern practices are not what they claim to be, they only work when things are flowing smoothly in one's life (?). It's like in the movie where Adam Sandlers makes his old Buddhist friend enraged, lol, so funny. I'm just the messenger, sorry to spoil it for some of you. God bless Neal, I mean ... the real One.
Holy moly the eye trick worked instantly! I always Tighten my vision without realizing, simple adjustment and I can feel the breathe in my whole body feeling natural and full.
What's going on then when it's the opposite, when you forget to breathe or breathe really shallow. And yes, it ALWAYS is when staring at a close up screen, absolutely. Sometimes though at night when I lay on the lounge to watch tv also, it's a horrible feeling. Getting up and moving about helps.
I started having this issue of air hunger in high school when I was around 18. I had a terrible marijuana induced panic attack where I completely freaked out, and ever since after that day I have had horrible breathing issues and air hunger. Up to this I was working out single day and just completed a 15k a month prior to this happening. Recently I just finally started finding more information about air hunger and low co2 tolerance after about 6 years of dealing with this and it’s been brutal.I’m 24 have done 5 years in the military, married, and had a kid so my life has been very stressful, and I’m over this breathing issue. It’s affected me in so many different ways and it’s destroying my life. I’m happy but at the same time I’m not because I want to be breath normal again. I do these exercises to try and regain and healthy co2 tolerance but I’m at a point where my anxiety is so bad any little bad feeling or something that doesn’t feel right just sends me into full panic. It forces me to yawn excessively and take huge deep breaths from my mouth which I now know makes it worse. I just need to know like a timeline on how long it could take to reset and recover from this low co2 tolerance. If I’m been dealing with it now for 6 years I feel like it could take some time, but I really want to fix this and have a normal life again. Thank you for this video! Also I have been to the doctor many times and everything always comes back normal
Go see a PRI provider fr, investigate with PRIME from hruska clinic if needed, and stay off caffeine if on, im in the same situation
Hit right on the nose for me. I just got blood work back and my carbon dioxide is low. I need to upgrade my lifestyle. Thanks for all the info. I will start reading The Oxygen Advantage.
John Nestor is a must to be read. Also Patrick McKoewn, trained by Dr. Buteyko, and Wim Hof of course. Neal, I am always looking forward to your new vids. So hooked on them. Because of you I have learnt a lot about my body and how important the whole biomechanics is for general health. Thank you. Greetings from UK.
Hope you are doing well, Thomas.
Thank goodness for that! I couldn’t figure out why I felt like I couldn’t breathe out last night. Doing the breathing wrong in all the exercises (breathing hard IN as well as out), looking at my phone screen too much watching Neal’s vids over and over ;-) Also because of feeling sooo good with no pain and much improved ROM (thanks again!) I’ve been singing like it’s « Groundhog Day 2: Kareoke Evening ». Mostly REO Speedwagon. Oh yeah.
Has anyone also had an unexplained smell with it? Since yesterday afternoon I sometimes get a burnt food/metallic smell when I lie down. Thought there was something dead under my bed but no.
I experience the same issue. My cardiologists and PCP said it’s called “air hunger”. Low CO2. I have anxiety. I believe the air hunger has been a result of anxiety.
I have this too, has yours gotten any better?
@@JaydenDonato yes. It’s getting better slowly. Exercise, breathing exercises and a good diet (staying away from sugary and processed foods is essential). My doctors told me that there’s nothing wrong with my heart or lungs, so once we ruled out all those possibilities things have gotten better. If you can get your anxiety under control that helps.
What kind of breathing did you do
This is so true I'm literally experiencing everything you're saying right now. Doctors can't tell me anything so I had to do research on my own. Had a recent blood test that show high levels of carbon dioxide
Same how high was yours??
Which exercise, are you doing to improve the Co2? Please help.
Oxygen advantage drastically improved nasal issues I had suffered from for years - it also helped my anxiety a lot. Just ordered breathe by James Nestor to see what else is offered on the topic. I didn't have much success with Wim Hof
Nice. Happy to hear that.
Thanks for explaining.. I have low c02 levels in my labs .. and have tension in my diaphragm and acid reflux.. my oxy is 95 and higher and notice if I am 99 oxy I have more breathing issues .. I have have all these symptoms thank you so much..
Thank you
U r a genius! I have been on beta blocker but maybe I needed some guided breathing!
I remember hearing about how buddhist monks would value carbon dioxide just as much oxygen. I'll realize I've been CO2 deficient and once I realize this and start breathing differently I immediately start to yawn and my muscles relax (sometimes I actually get stuck in a yawn cycle- probably an overcorrection.) Also walking lately while keeping optic flow in mind (on the left side) has been HUGE, can't wait to see how it progresses. Thanks Neal!
You're welcome. Thats why I love Buddhist thinking, they don't label "good" and "bad". It's all conditional and all are parts of the one "whole". Can't have good without bad and hot without cold. You can't reject "negative" experience because it's probably not negative. You have to allow for it and learn from it. So your yawn cycle could be labeled "bad", but in reality it teaches you what not to do. Great comment!
I hear you, glad to hear someone else has experienced what I have. Not that I wish this on anyone. Yes too much time on computer. What is the biggest difference between PRI type breathing with our ribs down and this other type of breathing you are doing.
I would say the difference is that PRI breathing is teaching your body to be more balanced and the breathing he is explaining is an overall tightness of the body and can really show up any various ways. PRI might teach your brain to relax one side and flex another but this teaches your brain’s mentality to say “go against your urge to breathe more, because breathing more is feeding the issue more”. Hope this helps
Yes, I think Juan is correct. PRI breathing is really more mechanical in nature, in the sense that it is trying to purposely direct air inside your ribcage to "open" areas that are commonly restricted. So it's used to re-balance mechanical aspects of breathing between the left and right side.
Oxygen Advantage is more about the physiology of the body and homeostasis. I think OA and PRI are perfect complements.
I have the opposite problem: I forget to breathe. Or I take shallow, sub-optimal breaths.
That could still be due to visual convergence and/or using breath-holding to stabilize your body. Not saying it is, just a possibility.
Yeah same, I catch myself holding my breath after inhaling. Then short breaths following. When I’m on my phone in bed and I go to stand I often become faint! -doc knows and says to just get up slowly. The sensation still occurs but more is manageable if I’m slower. I was trying to do my own detective work and I’m wondering if the fact that I have very flared ribs has anything to do with this breathing pattern? My chest area protrudes slightly more than usual below my collarbone then sinks down at the sternum quite a bit, then the ribs flare out -even after exhale. Only goes down if I reallllly use my core, which is a struggle! Not sure if you have any videos on this!
@@emilycoutu4437 I think you should see a Postural Restoration Institute credentialed physical therapist who can help you with your ribcage and pelvis mechanics. My entire channel is devoted to it.
Yes I have the same issue. And at night when I lay down it feels like my chest is crushing me I can't breathe, which makes the forgetting to breathe and shallow breathing worse
so thats why I was always relaxed when drinking water and lifting head blocking left down periferal view and looked somewhere ahead and more to the right ( like where my right hip bone was ) at the level of my lower sternum .... ahaa makes sense now ... and another thing is that I always walked as many steps as i could without breathing and took a breath only when i needed to and then tried to calm down with tongue up ( even in dentistry they say exactly same thing , airway dynamics over tongue posture)
My CO2 just showed 19! I'm healthy except for a mild autoimmune issue. How to fix?
Experiencing this same exact thing
I am same I have autoimmune disease
Yes.
When you're in a panic attack, it's rough. Just trying to get that first breathe in right direction is tough. Takes a couple hours to calm down for me. I tried buying a capnograph to monitor my Co2 levels, but the ones I found are useless without a respirator. Patrick Mckeown said it best. Name of the game is prevention, but when you're in the middle of a panic attack you can do lots of little "full-exhaled pauses" with normal breathing to increase co2. The reduced breathing isn't as useful when you're in a panic attack, but needs to be done to prevent them from happening.
I agree. When I was in the middle of the heart palpitations, nothing I tried could get them to stop. It would go on for hours until the adrenaline wore out, I guess.
However, I had a discussion with an online client of mine, who happens to be an ER doctor. He said that he gives patients three different ways to deal with the panic attacks, one of which is by breathing faster and/or exercising.
In a sense, giving the nervous system the attention it wants.
It actually worked. One night when I was experiencing less extreme palpitations (before I started the Oxygen Adv. exercises) I was able to calm my system by moving around and breathing faster for 30 seconds.
In a way, you are taking control of the situation instead of being passive. Or at least that's how I interpret the situation.
@@NealHallinan Interesting. I bet you have a ton of books on your "to read list" as I've seen in comments, but there's one called "Waking the Tiger" by Peter Levine that's the basis for a lot of somatic based therapies. He talks about the "freeze response" in mammals and why it's useful. Humans hold a lot of trauma/tension in the psoas because it's so vital to running from an attack of a wild animal per say. A lot of times I'm in bed when my panic is the worst so I'm laying sedentary in a "freeze response". Have to get moving around to get out of it and simulate "getting away". Changing the breathing isn't enough. Cheers!
I like these comments. I feel that technique to get active when at ease sort of puts your mind and body in sync with breathing. Often times I feel our bodies are still tense, wanting more oxygen, and taxing the body gives your body a use for this mental shift.
@@Ricklepick-im8dp good idea. I like to think in terms of simulation too. We can simulate “escaping” since our bodies are almost working on the same neural networks that are activated when we are actually fighting off something. So like you said, getting the wheels in motion when we are at ease. A quick jog/sprint maybe if our bodies aren’t stuck in a pattern and can handle it. My body feels like the alarm on the car that goes off when a cat walks by. Sensitivity wayyy to high. The best feeling is when you slow down at the end of the run or walk. That point when you feel you’ve gotten away from whatever was “chasing you”.
Why not implement this in our pri exercises? Longer pauses and exhales, and less inhales
Hi do you remember which journal your mentioned in this video? Thanks
I had a very bad experience where I was at work I worked outside all day for a well company and i started to have shortness of breathe I apparently started hyperventilating my hands started going numb then my neck then my face eventually to the point where I couldn’t talk or use my hands or legs my limbs tightened up I was taken to the emergency room where they found out I had very low levels of carbon dioxide. I still struggle with breathing due to very bad allergies and my lungs not recovering fully from Covid.
What did they do for it and advise?
So what exercise to reduce c02... ? Please help
Try biofield tuning that sorted my palpitations and panicking
I've actually done it.
This is exactly what I’m feeling! I started feeling like this immediately once I got my permanent metal wire removed from my bottom teeth. I think that the eyes and ears both aren’t working properly due to the teeth being manipulated by orthodontics. I can get my nausea to stop if I bite at a different angle. I can also see in “3D” with both eyes. Try to smile using both of you eyes, let your jaw move if it has to, the teeth may be off throwing the tongue off its resting position causing this.
Any updates of how you are doing
I have copd and i can't breathe all the way out. I have the symptoms u described. My BLOOD co2 was too high. Whats going on with my S.O.B and feeling faint?. If I hold my breath for more than afew seconds, I pass out. It's very scary.
How do you fix or find eye dr for optical prism?
What in the heck does this have to do with C02 levels 😳
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom, whether you believe in personal growth or not we ALL have growth happening at a subconscious level and we as humans try to work everything out…. TRUST YOUR JOURNEY… if you’re low in C02 then check the obvious but truly learn how to meditate… breath work is extremely important… we ALL actually hold our breath many times a day.. which leads to over breathing leading to less C02 we need to regulate our C02… too many breaths per minute decreases your C02… also i noticed you are breathing through your mouth throughout this post… as you say, over talking, is mouth breathing… nose breathing promotes calmness and balance with added nitric oxide creation which is also natural anti inflammatory
can i work normally Infront of computer after using the technics in oxygen advantage book
How long did it take to start seeing changes after slowing down your breathing?
So how do you know if your CO2 is too high or low?
routine blood work
Haha strange, I've experienced everything youve spoken of in the vid, except mine was caused by shooting up meth. Stuffed up my breathing, my heart, then the gas exchange in my lungs till I had too much co2 in my blood and it knocked me out. 3 times. Don't do drugs people
Thanks for sharing so much! Your videos are so very appreciated. I am sure you read Breathe by James Nestor...I thought everyone should read it!
Thanks, Camilla. I actually haven’t read it yet. Eventually I’ll get to it.
@@NealHallinan it’s an amazing book. I actually listened to the Audible version. So impressed with the amount of information packed in it!!
Due to this dysfunction my body produces higher levels of carbon dioxide to counter this
Yes, that’s your buffer system which is trying to regulate back your ph, so you went from respiratory acidosis to basically respiratory alkalosis. When you finish hyperventilating you have lack of CO2 so your body has to compensate, but before your buffer system compensates panic attacks are very possible, because your CO2 goes very low too fast and your HCO3 cannot follow that. Although Neal here is mentioning excess of oxygen as cause of hyperventilation, that doesn’t make sense, because we hyperventilate because of excess of CO2.
Is this not why people breathed into a bag back in the day? Increases co2
I think so.
Do you know anything about WimHof now? How is compares to the book?
I read his book. It seems quite opposite of this book. Fast inhalations.
Interesting, could wearing masks contribute to this?
I really don't know. I haven't had any issues with masks but I work from home at this point so I only wear them when I'm out.
Probably your mitochondria react to WiFi.... of course buteyko is great...
Buteyko?