Breathing Slower and Less

Oxygen is one of the most important elements for life of any kind, especially the human body. First you need to be sure your body is getting the required amount of

oxygen to support healthy living.

The air we breath normally has about 21% oxygen.

Breathing Myth, More Oxygen is Required For Normal living

Myth #1 A Need For Oxygen is What Regulates Breathing

Under normal conditions, breathing is regulated by the CO2 concentration in the arterial blood and the brain. Whatever we do whether it be to sit, walk, eat, run,
sleep, or whatever, arterial CO2 concentration is kept within a narrow range of 0.1% accuracy by the breathing center located in the medulla oblongata of the brain.

Myth #2  Co2 is a Poisonous and Toxic Waste Product That Your Body Must Remov

When a healthy person is hyperventilating or is forced to breathe deeply and fast, they experience what is known as hypocapnia or CO2 deficiency in the blood and
other fluids, tissues, and cells. The immediate effects are: constriction of blood vessels because CO2 is a powerful vasodilator and reduced blood and oxygen supply
to the brain, heart and all other vital organs. This is the reason why it is so easy to faint or pass out after 2-3 minutes of forceful hyperventilation. Another CO2
effect is the suppressed Bohr effect or diminished release of oxygen from the blood in the tissues due to the same hyperventilation or hypocapnia. Apart from these
phenomena, there are many other vital functions of CO2 in the human body. Meanwhile, reduced tissue oxygenation is sufficient enough to promote cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other chronic conditions.

Myth #3  When a Person is Healthy, They Cannot Feel How They Breathe

If people with normal breathing are asked what they feel about their breathing, they will say that they feel nothing at all as if they are barely breathing. “The perfect
man breathes as if he is not breathing” Lao-Tzu, circa 4th century BC. Indeed, if you have any healthy people around you and observe their breathing for 20-30
seconds, you will see and hear nothing. The medical norm for breathing is tiny. It is only about 12 breaths/min with tiny 500 mL for one breath, while some people
have about 700 mL. They are deep breathers.

Myth #4  My Breathing is OK, After All I know How to Breathe

Less than 10% of people have normal breathing parameters and body oxygen stores these days. While breathing 2-3 times more than the norm, most people believe
that they are barely breathing. You can check the websites and references of medical and physiological respiratory studies done on ordinary or normal subjects
during last 80 years.

It is a fact that the medical norm established about a century ago is not the norm anymore. Modern people breathe about two times more air than we did 100 years
ago. Your breathing is normal, if and only if you have normal body oxygenation. How can you check it? You should be able to easily hold your breath for at least 40 s
after your usual exhalation and with no stress at the end of the test. This test is described in detail below.

Myth About Deep Breathing and Over Oxygenation

Myth #5  If I hyperventilate, I ll Pass Out Due to Over Oxygenation

During normal breathing, oxygenation of the arterial blood is about 98-99%. Over oxygenation, while breathing normal air, is impossible.  

Breathing of 100% pure oxygen however then makes blood over oxygenation possible. Note that normal breathing is invisible and inaudible. It is so light that most
people do not feel it under normal conditions unless you are focusing on it.

As a result, breathing more air cannot get much more oxygen in the blood. It follows that, no matter how deep and fast one breathes, he or she cannot get over
oxygenated blood using normal air, while pure oxygen is toxic for the lungs tissue.

Hundreds of published studies have clearly shown that hyperventilation or breathing more than the tiny medical norm REDUCES oxygen supply to the brain, heart,
liver, kidneys, and all other vital organs due to losses in CO2.

You can pass out, due to hyperventilation, because of too low brain oxygenation.

Nevertheless, on TV, radio, and in everyday life situations, people who have little knowledge of physiology say, “Take a deep breath, get more oxygen”, or “Breathe
deeper for better oxygenation”.

Myth #6  A Sick Person Will Notice When Their Breathing Becomes Abnormal

In 100% of cases documented hyperventilation occurred at rest for sick people and this is confirmed by over 40 published western studies. These sick patients
breathe about 2-3 times more than the norm, and they usually do not complain or even notice that their breathing is heavy or too deep. Why? This is because air is
weightless and the main breathing muscles which are the diaphragm and chest are very powerful, we can pump 25 times more air during maximum exercise or
about 150 liters of air in one minute, than we require for normal breathing at rest which is only about 6 L/min. People may notice that their breathing is heavy
during heart attacks, stroke, asthma attacks, or morning hyperventilation which occurs between 4 and 7 am normally, when they breathe 4-5 times more than
normal.

Proper breathing should be done by breathing through the nose and down into the diaphragm or stomach area, holding a few seconds and then exhaling through the
mouth. The key is to train your body and soon it will become second nature. You will get enough oxygen through normal breathing. The key is to stay healthy and
we will be discussing some of the things that you need to do to stay healthy which will make your breathing normal.