Air hunger Means Too Heavy Breathing and Low Body O2

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- Updated on November 10, 2021

Air hunger Means Too Heavy Breathing and Low Body O2 1By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Alternative Health Educator and Author


- Medically Reviewed by Naziliya Rakhimova, MD

Man with breathlessness on exertion Air hunger or breathlessness is caused by overbreathing or hyperventilation. Other causes of labored breathing are mouth- and chest-related respiratory problems.

Breathlessness is a sensation of air hunger and an uncomfortable awareness of one’s own breathing at rest or on exertion due to low oxygenation of tissues and the negative feedback of the respiratory receptors in the human brain. Other similar terms are “dyspnea” and “shortness of breath”. Breathlessness and heavy breathing are common in people with chronic diseases, such as advanced diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV-AIDS, heart disease, COPD, bronchitis, and many other conditions. It can appear on exertion, after meals, during night sleep, or during pregnancy.

Causes of Air hunger

There are many contributing reasons that can lead to breathlessness. However, in cases of chronic diseases, there are 3 main causes of breathlessness that relate to mouth breathing, chest breathing, and ineffective breathing patterns. This last cause plays the central role since its elimination leads to the disappearance of breathlessness. Consider these clinical results.

Minute ventilation rates (chronic diseases)

Condition Minute
ventilation
Number of
people
All references or
click below for abstracts
Normal breathing 6 l/min Medical textbooks
Healthy Subjects 6-7 l/min >400 Results of 14 studies
COPD 14 (+-2) l/min 12 Palange et al, 2001
COPD 12 (+-2) l/min 10 Sinderby et al, 2001
COPD 14 l/min 3 Stulbarg et al, 2001
Cancer 12 (+-2) l/min 40 Travers et al, 2008
Heart disease 15 (+-4) l/min 22 Dimopoulou et al, 2001
Heart disease 16 (+-2) l/min 11 Johnson et al, 2000
Heart disease 12 (+-3) l/min 132 Fanfulla et al, 1998
Heart disease 15 (+-4) l/min 55 Clark et al, 1997
Heart disease 13 (+-4) l/min 15 Banning et al, 1995
Heart disease 15 (+-4) l/min 88 Clark et al, 1995
Heart disease 14 (+-2) l/min 30 Buller et al, 1990
Heart disease 16 (+-6) l/min 20 Elborn et al, 1990
Pulm hypertension 12 (+-2) l/min 11 D’Alonzo et al, 1987
Asthma 13 (+-2) l/min 16 Chalupa et al, 2004
Asthma 15 l/min 8 Johnson et al, 1995
Asthma 14 (+-6) l/min 39 Bowler et al, 1998
Asthma 13 (+-4) l/min 17 Kassabian et al, 1982
Asthma 12 l/min 101 McFadden, Lyons, 1968
Cystic fibrosis 15 L/min 15 Fauroux et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis 10 L/min 11 Browning et al, 1990
Cystic fibrosis* 10 L/min 10 Ward et al, 1999
CF and diabetes* 10 L/min 7 Ward et al, 1999
Cystic fibrosis 16 L/min 7 Dodd et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis 18 L/min 9 McKone et al, 2005
Cystic fibrosis* 13 (+-2) l/min 10 Bell et al, 1996
Cystic fibrosis 11-14 l/min 6 Tepper et al, 1983
Diabetes 12-17 l/min 26 Bottini et al, 2003
Diabetes 15 (+-2) l/min 45 Tantucci et al, 2001
Diabetes 12 (+-2) l/min 8 Mancini et al, 1999
Diabetes 10-20 l/min 28 Tantucci et al, 1997
Diabetes 13 (+-2) l/min 20 Tantucci et al, 1996
Sleep apnea 15 (+-3) l/min 20 Radwan et al, 2001
Liver cirrhosis 11-18 l/min 24 Epstein et al, 1998
Hyperthyroidism 15 (+-1) l/min 42 Kahaly, 1998

In all these cases, breathlessness is caused by chronic hyperventilation (or an automatic deep breathing pattern) leading to alveolar hypocapnia (lack of CO2) and cell hypoxia, which creates air hunger and provokes the respiratory center to further intensify breathing.

Breathing of healthy people is small: only 500 ml of tidal volume, 10-12 breaths/min for the respiratory rate, and 6 L/min for minute ventilation for a 70-kg person). But patients with breathlessness and heavy breathing have over 12 L/min (more than double the norm) for their ventilation rates and over 18 breaths/min for respiratory frequency. That causes constriction of airways and hypoxic and tense respiratory muscles.

What causes Air hunger on exertion?

Man with breathlessness on exertion Exertion increases minute ventilation rates and this causes losses in alveolar CO2. Hypocapnia either worsens ventilation-perfusion ratio (in case of lung problems) or immediately constricts arterial blood vessels, causing reduced oxygen delivery to all vital organs. In both cases, increased breathing reduces oxygen transport to tissues. Breathlessness on exertion is particularly strong in cases of mouth breathing that leads to more losses in CO2 and additional losses in the absorption of nasal nitric oxide.

Chest breathing is another crucial factor that leads to chronic breathlessness due to the drastic reduction in blood oxygenation, sometimes leading to hypoxemia.

What causes breathlessness after eating

The main physiological effect of meals and eating is also increased ventilation due to biochemical stress caused by food substances that require assimilation and redistribution. Increased respiratory volumes cause the same effects as it is described above for exertional dyspnea.

Why anxiety, night sleep, and pregnancy trigger breathlessness

Air hunger Overbreathing is a normal physiological reaction to stress. As a result of stress and anxiety, the human body has reduced oxygenation of cells and diminished carbon dioxide in the lungs. Transition into a horizontal position also results in lowered alveolar CO2, leading to decreased cellular oxygen tensions. Numerous studies proved that end-tidal CO2 is lowered in pregnancy, causing the same effects as described above.

As a result, in all these cases, the main physiological mechanism remains the same: all these factors increase minute ventilation rates, causing reduced oxygen levels in body cells.

Mechanism and causes of breathlessness

People with breathlessness and doctors The main causes of breathlessness and heavy breathing (why it is hard to breathe):
– constriction of airways due to hypocapnia in the airways
– reduced oxygen levels in the respiratory muscles
– tense chest muscles and the diaphragm due to low CO2 since CO2 is a potent muscle relaxant.

Exacerbation causes in the pathophysiology of labored respiration and breathlessness include:
– chest breathing
– mouth breathing (that causes low absorption of nitric oxide and reduced CO2 level in alveoli)
– inflammation and sputum or mucus in air passages causing additional narrowing or even an obstruction of air and oxygen flow, as in people with asthma or COPD.

This YouTube video explains the main causes and successful treatment of breathlessness or shortness of breath.

Exertion, mouth breathing, physical exercise with mouth breathing, chest breathing, heavy meals, overeating, anxiety, stress, attempts to inhale deeply, deep breathing exercises with CO2 losses, poor posture, night sleep and other lifestyle factors are already-discussed causes of hyperventilation. Hence, they worsen breathlessness and heavy breathing.

Successful treatment of breathlessness

Smiling medical people Over 160 Russian medical doctors tested thousands of people with breathlessness and heavy breathing and found that all of them had less than a certain number X (in seconds) for the body-oxygen test. These doctors also discovered that breathing normalization (achieving normal breathing parameters) leads to complete elimination of breathlessness and heavy breathing with air hunger.

As their clinical experience revealed, with over X s for the body-oxygen test, patients do not experience these negative symptoms. This result has been achieved in many clinical trials after the application of various breathing therapies and devices (the Buteyko method, Frolov breathing device therapy, and others).

This number X is provided right below here as your bonus content.

You need to have at least 20-25 seconds for the DIY body oxygen test.

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