Breathing is an unconscious yet ever so vital part of daily life. Very few of us take the time to consider our own breathing patterns. Even physicians in allopathic medicine, me included, pay little attention to respiratory rate unless it is affecting our pH levels or mental status.
Our respiratory rate is determined by how many breaths we take in one minute. Increasing our respiratory rates is a natural response to stress and anxiety. This increases our oxygen while decreasing carbon dioxide in preparation for an emergency escape from something like a wild animal, per se.
Evolutionarily speaking, hyperventilation is an important life saving feature for us because we need more oxygen when running! Unfortunately, in today’s undue stress, many people now breathe 15-20 times/minute rather than the normal 8-12 breaths/minute that is recorded in medical literature. This is unnatural and if continued chronically, can change our pH as well as internal cellular activities. Scientifically, this means that we end up losing too much C02, thus reducing body oxygenation due to vasoconstriction caused by C02 deficiency (bohrs effect). This causes hypoxia and reduced oxygenation in our cells. Remember that oxygen delivers all the necessary nutrients to every organ in the body.
