Coffee Addiction: Sign of Low Brain Oxygen Levels

Coffee
cups due to coffee addiction Coffee addiction has an excellent correlation with the body oxygen test. Following are the main factors that reduce brain and body oxygenation in people with coffee addiction: oral breathing, chest breathing, and chronic overbreathing (breathing too much air at rest or hyperventilation). All these factors significantly decrease brain and body oxygen content.

When someone's automatic breathing at rest is too frequent and/or deep with less than 20 seconds for the body oxygen test (see the PET scan of the brain below), he or she commonly suffers from mental confusion, lethargy, low levels of energy, and many other effects of hyperventilation. Obviously, artificial stimulation of senses and the body has a positive effect on well-being: there is an increased feeling of energy and alertness after drinking coffee. Even medical studies report increased physical fitness after 2 or 3 cups of coffee for modern ordinary people since they commonly have less than 20 seconds of oxygen in the brain. Therefore, there are proven temporary positive effects of coffee. This creates dependence or coffee addiction.

Hyperventilation causes low O2 and headaches However, when the same person with coffee addiction gradually slows down own breathing and gets up to 35-40 seconds for the body oxygen test, the effects of coffee are very different. Instead of a feeling of energy and alertness, increased intake of coffee causes nervousness, increased heart rate, and worsened physical fitness. As a result, as it has been confirmed by thousands of people, they do not like coffee after they achieve normal body oxygenation. Therefore, the most natural treatment of coffee addiction is to eliminate the cause.

Why can coffee be beneficial for people with low brain and body oxygen levels? What is the mechanism of these positive and negative effects of coffee and causes of coffee addiction?

Why and how can ineffective breathing patterns and low brain oxygen levels cause addictions to caffeine, sugar, alcohol, cigarette smoking, other stimulants, chemical substances and drugs? What are the contributions of mouth breathing, chest breathing and breathing too much air? Mouth breathing reduces brain and body oxygen levels due to arterial hypocapnia (low CO2) and reduced absorption of nasal nitric oxide. Chest breathing leads to ineffective gas exchange in the lungs and reduced blood oxygenation (hypoxemia). Overbreathing causes arterial hypocapnia that constricts arteries and arterioles reducing blood and oxygen supply to the brain and all other vital organs in the human body. All these effects are considered in detail on other pages.

Therefore, all these negative factors cause low body oxygen levels and likely chronic fatigue, confusion in thinking and depression. Stimulants can be respiratory suppressants, like codeine, morphine and alcohol leading slower breathing and a temporary boost in brain and body oxygenation, or they increase metabolic rates, as in the case of caffeine, with a transitory feeling of energy, improved concentration and fitness.

The main problems are related to withdrawal symptoms and toxicity that produce stress on organs of elimination and increased ventilation. Therefore, the mechanism of addition is based on the respiratory changes:
- the addictive substance or activity is able to temporary counteract the effects of hyperventilation
- withdrawal or toxicity lead to the state that is even worse than the initial one
- more hyperventilation requires increased doses of stimulants.
As a result, people "naturally" get hooked, often with the belief that breathing more air is good for health.

Man running on beach Conversely, when people start to slow down their breath, while practicing reduced breathing or breathe easy exercise (especially with the DIY breathing device or the Frolov device), they naturally increase brain and body oxygenation and become less dependent. Any physical exercise with nasal breathing (in and out) is another great way to get rid of addictions.

The table below reflects some fundamental changes that take place when the person normalizes their automatic breathing and brain/body oxygenation.

Body Oxygen Test Results and Lifestyle

Based on observations of thousands of patients by Soviet and Russian doctors, as well as the hexperience of my students, here are the relationships between morning body oxygen levels and key lifestyle factors:

Lifestyle factor:	Body oxygen < 30 s	Body oxygen > 50 s
Energy level	Medium, low, or very low	High
Desire to exercise	Not strong, but possible	Craving and joy of exercise
Typical mind states	Confusion, anxiety, depression, fog	Focus, concentration, clarity
Craving for coffee, sugar and junk foods	Present	Absent
Addictions to smoking, alcohol, and drugs	Common	Absent
Desire to eat raw foods	Weak and rare	Very common
Correct posture	Rare and requires efforts	Natural and automatic
Sleep	Often of poor quality; > 7 hours	Excellent quality; < 5 hours naturally

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic

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