What are the main effects of over-breathing on the central nervous system and the brain?
Physiology and medicine teach us that a CO2 deficiency produces the following abnormalities:
* Increased excitability of all nerve cells. We are too excited when we hyperventilate. Do you remember about this effect (Section 4-C. Stabilization of the nervous system)?
* Reduced blood flow to the brain. Do you remember about this effect (Section 4-A.Vasodilation)?
Our brains get less blood supply. This physiological fact can be found in many textbooks. As Professor Newton from the University of Southern California Medical Center recently reported, “cerebral blood flow decreases 2% for every mm Hg decrease in CO2” (Newton, 2004). That means that with each second decrease in the CP, blood flow to the brain is less by almost 1%. Less blood means a decreased supply of glucose (the main fuel for the brain in normal conditions), oxygen, and other nutrients. In addition, it causes gradual accumulation of waste products.
* The suppressed Bohr effect. Do you remember about this effect (Section 4-B. The Bohr effect)?
Not only is the inflow of oxygen less, but also its release is hampered by low CO2 concentrations. That further reduces brain oxygenation.
It is likely that there are other effects of abnormal breathing on the nervous system. Hyperventilation is virtually always manifested in abnormal breathing patterns, including a higher frequency of breathing, shorter exhalations and inhalations, absence of periods of no-breathing, abnormalities in the work of respiratory muscles (e.g., chest breathing), etc. That may cause, for example, the over-activation of sympathetic nervous systems and other negative effects.
Do clinical studies show that patients with mental or psychological problems have heavy breathing?
In 1976 the British Journal of Psychiatry published a study of CO2 measurements in 60 patients with neurotic depression and non-retarded endogenous depression (Mora et al, 1976). All patients had abnormally low carbon dioxide values.
Later, in 1990, American psychiatrists from Hunter College (City University of New York) reported results from several groups of subjects with anxiety, panic phobia, depression, migraine, and idiopathic seizures. The abstract states “virtually all the noncontrol subjects were found to show moderate to severe hyperventilation and accompanying EEG dysrhythmia”. In addition, it notes that hyperventilation and abnormal electrical signals in the brain took place simultaneously.
Canadian scientists from the Department of Psychiatry (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg) measured carbon dioxide concentrations in over 20 patients with panic disorder. Their average CO2 was also below the medical norm (Asmundson and Stein, 1994). There are many other studies that report abnormally low CO2 values for people with various psychological and neurological problems.
Is hyperventilation the cause of these health problems?
While these Western studies suggest the possible role of breathing in the appearance and development of various neurological and psychological diseases, modern medicine and psychiatry have a poor understanding of how gradual changes in breathing impact the development of these diseases.
At the same time, there is no any evidence showing that people with normal breathing parameters can suffer from neurological or psychological problems.
For the list of the quoted references click here
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