Overbreathing and Anxiety - which comes first?
Do you experience panic attacks or suffer with anxiety? You may well be breathing too much! (see symptoms of hyperventilation).
An estimated 1 in 10 people attending Emergency Departments are experiencing some form of acute hyperventilation or panic attack. Overbreathing (or hyperventilation) can be hard to recognise but can become a daily habit even after the initial cause, such as emotional or physical trauma or grief, has passed. Overbreathing can also be due to physical demands on the body such as talking a lot. This can be particularly relevant in careers such as teaching or those where holding static postures is required - professions such as dentists, surgeons and similar. Overbreathing can also be caused by simple, everyday 'busyness'. The symptoms that then develop can then cause anxiety and so the cycle is established. Breathing too much and using your upper chest / neck muscles to suck the air in can alter your body chemistry, upsetting the delicate balance and stimulating our emergency response or fight-flight freeze reaction. In the short term this can be useful in an emergency, but long term is extremely detrimental to our health. |
How Physio2Breathe can help you
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