Ineffective Breathing Pattern and Reduced Body Oxygenation in the Sick
As we learned from the Graphs and Tables on the homepage of this website, mildly, not critically, sick people breathe about 2-2.5 times more air than the physiological norms. They breathe about 12-18 l/min at rest instead of 6 l/min, as tens of medical studies have revealed, and have only 10-20 s of body oxygenation (see this webpage with CP results in the sick) due to their heavy and deep breathing.
This video clip from YouTube explains the link between the ineffective breathing pattern (present in most sick people) and body oxygenation test results.
If you observe the breathing of sick people, you will notice that they have ineffective breathing. It is usually visible (with chest movements) and audible (possible panting, wheezing, sighing, yawning, sneezing, coughing, deep inhalations or exhalations). The mouth can be used for breathing at rest. Hence, there are many differences with the normal breathing pattern.
For sick people (10-20 s CP for their body oxygenation index), with their ineffective breathing pattern, the durations of inhalations and exhalations, breathing rate, amount of air inhaled per breath and other parameters are individual. Many sick people can have the following parameters of their breathing cycle (see the Figure below): inhalation (about 1.5-2 s), exhalation (1.5-2 s), no automatic pause; the depth of inhalation or tidal volume is about 700-1,000 ml; the respiratory rate is over 18 breaths/min (usually about 20-25 breaths/min), the CP or body oxygenation index is less than 20 s. Hence, they breathe too deep and too fast in comparison with the normal breathing pattern or ideal breathing pattern.
Fig. Ineffective breathing pattern, typical for the sick: deep and heavy breathing pattern; deep, forceful, and fast inhalations and exhalations, no automatic pause. Hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency) reduces blood oxygenation and the CP (body oxygenation index).
Hence, all medical evidence and clinical experience show that sick people, with chronic health problems, have heavy and deep ineffective breathing pattern. Since overbreathing cannot improve normal oxygenation of the arterial blood (the normal value is about 98%), this ineffective breathing pattern reduces CO2 concentrations in the blood and cells (creating hypocapnia). Carbon dioxide deficiency leads to constriction of blood vessels and the suppressed Bohr effect. Both physiological processes makes cells oxygen deficient, as we are going to learn more in the next Section. Their respiratory are usually much worse during early morning hours due to Morning Hyperventilation Effect.