If you suffer from anxiety, especially if it is long-standing or you are going through a difficult period, you probably feel the need to breathe deeply all the time. It is an impulse that comes without warning, whether while you are walking or working.
You may feel short of breath. You feel like you need to fill your lungs, but the impulse comes from some point in the torso, probably the diaphragm, which intervenes in breathing by decreasing the volume of the chest cavity when you inhale and increasing it when you exhale.
However, the worst thing is that when you have anxiety you also find it difficult to breathe deeply. No matter how many breaths of air you try to take, you feel that they are not enough. And that can be an extremely unpleasant and even distressing experience.
The natural process of breathing
First of all, it is important to rule out any physical problem, such as a lung or heart condition or even dehydration. If you don’t have any illness, but you feel anxious, it is likely that this is the cause of your need to breathe deeply all the time.
To understand what happens, we must start from the “physical” mechanism of breathing. We tend to breathe automatically; That is, for most of the time we breathe without being fully aware of it.
Breathing is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which is further divided into:
- Sympathetic nervous system, which stimulates the body’s fight or flight response
- Parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes the body after stimulation
Both systems alternate when we breathe. When we inhale, our diaphragm descends and the volume of the chest cavity increases as we fill our lungs with air.
However, when they fill up they also begin to compress the walls of the heart, which in turn restricts blood flow in and out of this organ. To compensate for that restriction, the heart rate increases, stimulating the fight or flight response.
When we exhale, the diaphragm moves upward and the volume of the chest cavity decreases as our lungs empty of air, helping us relax.
What does all that mean?
Which is actually the exhalation, not the inhalation, that contributes to body relaxation.
The need to breathe deeply: what causes it?
When you feel anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Your breathing accelerates and becomes shallow, rapid and agitated, this is what is known as hyperventilation. Even if you don’t realize it, you are breathing wrong.
This produces a series of physiological changes, such as a reduction in the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) in the blood to a level called hypocapnia and an increase in blood pH or respiratory alkalosis. That means less oxygen is released to the tissues, causing an increase in the power and frequency of the heartbeat.
As there is less CO2, the respiratory rate is also reduced, so you feel the need to breathe deeply. And by forcing your breathing, you precisely increase the sensation of dyspnea or suffocation.
If you enter that loop, it is likely that emotional discomfort will increase and other physiological reactions related to vasoconstriction or a compensatory cardiovascular reaction will be triggered. At first you may experience mild symptoms, such as numbness or tingling in your fingers, but if respiratory alkalosis persists, this sensation will also spread to your toes, face, and especially around your mouth.
At the same time, these physiological changes increase other anxiety symptoms such as dizziness or increased heart rate, which aggravates the feeling of panic.
Remember that your body needs oxygen, but also CO2. Cells produce CO2, but it takes a little time, so if you breathe too quickly, you will expel CO2 before you have time to produce more, causing too much oxygen to build up in your bloodstream.
Interestingly, hyperventilation has a “paradoxical” effect because although it is due to an excess of oxygen, it makes you feel like you don’t have enough. This causes the need to breathe deeply.
Unfortunately, that urge tends to make things worse, because it pushes you to take in more oxygen than you need. This is why breathing deeply is unsatisfying and counterproductive. One way to get rid of that feeling is to slow down your breathing rate and hold your breath for a few seconds to produce more CO2.
What can you do? Breathing deeply will not relieve your anxiety, you need to take a slower breath. The 3-2-3 method can help: take a breath in for 3 seconds, hold your breath for 2 seconds, and then exhale for 3 seconds.
Of course, deep breathing is important and necessary (practicing breathing exercises will help), but only when you are calm as it will allow you to address anxiety at its source and learn to breathe more completely, decreasing the chances of falling into hyperventilation without realizing it.
References:
Shao, R. Man, I.S.C. & Lee, T.M.C. (2024) The Effect of Slow-Paced Breathing on Cardiovascular and Emotion Functions: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review. Mindfulness; 15: 1–18.
Wood, C. & Cano, A. (2009) La Hiperventilación y el Trastorno de Angustia a la Luz de un Marco Cognitivo. Clínica y Salud; 20(1): 2174-0550.
Lum, L. C. (1981) Hyperventilation and anxiety state. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine; 74(1): 1-4.
