Forgetting to breathe?

[EmilyK83]

This is one of my nastier anxiety symptoms...at least I hope it's just the anxiety!

Sometimes - both during the day and in the evening - I'll find myself "forgetting" to breathe - it's hard to explain, but it's like I'll suddenly realiser that I haven't taken a breath for a little while which is a bit worrying!!

Also, my boyfriend has commented that some nights I'll be making a wheezing noise in my sleep, and last night he said it sounded like I was only breathing in halfway rather than taking a full breath. During the day I'll often feel like I can't take a full breath too.

I'm starting to get worried about all this! Does anyone else have the same problems? Whenever I've had my blood oxygen levels tested they've been at 98% minimum, but it feels horrible! :(

[Oosh]

Hiya

I don't think you're gonna stop breathing. It's just a fear. Breathing is linked to an automatic part of your nervous system, Autonomic nervous system. You're conscious of breathing yourself but if you were unconscious your body would do it automatically. So you can stop worrying about that.

As for the not being able to breathe fully I used to get that. For me it was exhaustion. I got right into keeping fit and would do it everyday in excess. But in the evenings sitting watching telly I would find I couldn't breathe in fully. Breathing In fully means breathing through your diaphragm/solar plexus, bottom, centre of your rib cage. I went to the docs about it because I found it quite distressing. If I remember rightly he suggested so stung about stomach acid and gave me milk of magnesium ??? I have absolutely no idea why to this day. Anyway, a lot later, after stopping overtraining I put two and two together and realised it was exhaustion.

However if you're not exhausted in anyway it's most likely anxiety, tightening of the chest or something. Look up exercises for breathing through your diaphragm/solar plexus on the net. You'll probably find it in yoga stuff.

I'm not a doctor by the way. I can only talk from my experiences. Hope something in there helps. :-)

---------- Post added at 10:02 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------

Also, the forgetting to breathe of a day thing, if you're breathing too much, hyperventilating, you're oxygen levels will rise and you may get the feeling like your lungs aren't automatically desiring the next breathe. You can probably simulate this by over breathing.

Your lungs will automatically want another breathe when it needs one. Wait until you get that urge to breathe into your diaphragm again, then draw it in. It may only be a shallow breathe you need, then out and wait until you feel your diaphragm need the next intake. If its not for a while, don't worry. It just means you might have a bit too much oxygen in your body and your diaphragm is pausing and regulating a bit.

[EmilyK83]

That's really helpful, thank you - and is definitely a reply I'm going to look back at when I'm feeling worried about my breathing!! I'll definitely look up the breathing exercises - am wondering if maybe I'm so used to over breathing because of the anxiety that my body's just "forgotten" what normal breathing is like, it's been happening for a while and I'm still alive(!) so I guess it's not that big a deal. Just another one of those fun things that anxiety can throw at us!

This is why I love these forums - you can always find someone who's been in the same position as you, no matter what the issue, and it really helps to put your mind at ease :)

[Oosh]

"One of the first steps in learning to breathe well is to learn diaphragmatic deep breathing. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that sits below the lungs, horizontally bisecting the trunk of the body. When you breath in, the diaphragm contracts and flattens downward creating a vacuum that draws in air. When you exhale, the diaphragm returns to its dome shape, pushing air out of the body."

I used to feel like I'd only breathe half way down and like the breathe didn't reach the very bottom. This vacuum thing above sounds like the problem. Learning to breathe properly using your diaphragm.

Google diaphragmatic breathing.