Sedatives | CO2 Stabilizer: Natural Brain Nerve Sedative and Tranquilizer

- Updated on October 29, 2020

Sedatives | CO2 Stabilizer: Natural Brain Nerve Sedative and Tranquilizer 1By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Alternative Health Educator and Author

- Medically Reviewed by Dr. David Walker, CPA, Licensed Psychologist

Sedatives | CO2 Stabilizer: Natural Brain Nerve Sedative and Tranquilizer

Proofread by Daan Oosting Proofreader on Aug 30, 2019

Grammarly-Daan-Sept-2019

Effects of heavy breathing on brain circulation and oxygenation “Sedative” (adjective) means “having a soothing or calming effect; reducing anxiety, stress, excitement or irritability”. As a noun, the term “sedative” means an agent or a drug that produces a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect.

While considering the mental health of people, the most missing chemical in the human brain is CO2 (see studies below), while oxygen is another required sedative substance. CO2 is a powerful natural sedative and tranquilizer. In addition, CO2 supplies O2 for the body cells, brain cells included.

Medical research studies have clearly proven that modern people breathe at rest about 2 times more air than the medical norm (see the historical chart below).

Cell hypoxia leads to anaerobic respiration and accumulation of waste products in brain tissues. Hence, oxygen is another natural agent that has sedative brain effects.

The physiological norm for minute ventilation was established about 100 years ago and it was also the norm for ordinary people at those times.

Hyperventilation: Present in Over 90% of Normals

Since modern people breathe about twice more, they have less CO2 in their brains, though both oxygen and carbon dioxide is crucial for the stability and normal work of nerves.

Effects of natural sedative CO2 Stabilizer on the brain Normal CO2 concentrations create conditions for the normal work of the nervous system. While hypocapnia (low CO2 level) is one of the most common breathing disorders in the sick, and it naturally leads to anxiety.

More than five decades ago, one of the world’s leading physiological magazines, Physiological Reviews, published an extensive research article, “Physiological effects of hyperventilation.” In this article, Dr. Brown (the Department of Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center; USA) provided an analysis of almost 300 professional physiological and medical studies. When considering the effects of carbon dioxide deficiency in the nerve cells, he stated, “Studies designed to determine the effects produced by hyperventilation on nerve and muscle have been consistent in their finding on increased irritability” (Brown, 1953). Muscles and nerve cells become abnormally sensitive or irritated due to a lack of this natural sedative.

In 1965 the Journal of Physiology (another leading physiological magazine) published the article titled “Cortical CO2 tension and neuronal excitability”. It was shown that CO2 has a strong calming effect on the excessive excitability of brain areas responsible for thinking (Krnjevic et al., 1965).

MDs smiling In 1988 physiologists from Duke University (Durham, the UK) suggested in their summary, “The brain, by regulating breathing, controls its own excitability” (Balestrino & Somjen, 1988).

CO2 model Do modern physiologists have different conclusions?
According to a recent study of Finnish scientists from the Laboratory of Neurology of the University of Joensuu, hyperventilation “leads to spontaneous and asynchronous firing of cortical neurons” (Huttunen et al., 1999). The study was published in The Experimental Brain Research. Note that scientific research studies found that overbreathing is present in 100% of people with chronic disorders (see links with dozens of studies below).

Sick people with health problems Hence, instead of normal perception and stability, which is characterized by the objective reflection and analysis of reality, the brain starts to generate its own “spontaneous and asynchronous” ideas, projects, explanations, and interpretations of real events. Moreover, an exciting brain can create problems that, in reality, do not exist. Anxiety, fear, panic attacks, and many other negative emotions and states naturally appear in people who have breathing disorders (breathing problems or difficulties), while CO2 is a natural sedative and tranquilizer of nerve cells. It is crucial for the stability and normal work of nerves, and the treatment and prevention of anxiety, stress, insomnia, phobias, and many other mental health problems.

Furthermore, these calmative effects of carbon dioxide were known to dozens of medical professionals who applied CO2 for the treatment and prevention of epilepsy seizures and sleep seizures.

The key natural sedative and perception of the outer world

Man knocking a door and woman to open it

Normal perception requires a calm brain so that our senses and nerve cells can freely transmit correct information for objective analysis. In other words, we need minimal abnormal interference from our nervous system (self-generated signals) during the process of communication and analysis.

Hyperventilation, on the other hand, plays a crucial role in our immediate reaction to stress or an emergency situation when our well-being or life is in danger. At such moments we do not need the objective world. We need to save/fight for our lives. Hence our minds need threats, enemies, stress sources, or outside problems to deal with.

Sometimes a palpable or visible threat is absent (no enemies or threats are seen). Then the excited brain can invent threats literally from nothing due to “spontaneous and asynchronous firing of cortical neurons” (see above). Hence, when we breathe more, we have a tendency to experience anxiety and search for threats, enemies, problems, etc.

Related web page:
Anxiety Breathing Disorders.

Medical references (Effects of hypocapnia on neurological symptoms and mental states)

Allen TE, Agus B. (1968) Hyperventilation leading to hallucinations. Am J Psychiatry 1968;125:632-7.

Bonn JA, Readhead CP, Timmons BH. Enhanced adaptive behavioral response in agoraphobic patients pretreated with breathing retraining. Lancet 1982;ii: 665-9.

Garssen B, Van Veenendaal W, Bloemink R. Agoraphobia and the hyperventilation syndrome. Behav Res Ther 1983;21:643-9.

Hibbert GA, Hyperventilation as a cause of panic attacks, Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1984 January 28; 288(6413): 263–264.

Ker WJ, Dalton JW, Gliebe PA. Some physical phenomena associated with the anxiety states and their relation to hyperventilation. Ann Intern Med 1937; 2: 962.

Ley R. Agoraphobia, the panic attack and the hyperventilation syndrome. Behav Res Ther 1985; 23: 79-81.

Lum LC. Hyperventilation and anxiety states. JR Soc Med 1981; 74: 1-4.

Magarian G. Hyperventilation syndromes: infrequently recognized common expressions of anxiety and stress. Medicine 1982; 61: 219-336.

Salkovskis PM, Warwick HMC, Clark DM, Wessells DJ. A demonstration of acute hyperventilation during naturally occurring panic attacks. Behav Res Ther 1986; 34: 91-4.

* Illustrations by Victor Lunn-Rockliffe
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