The Hyperventilating, Caffeinated Masses

If you are someone with a chronically blocked nose, afflicted by one of those health problems that seem so strangely common today- allergies, asthma, the list goes on- I urge you to try something. It requires nothing other than a hardy dose of willpower and a bit of trust in what I'm telling you. So, I want you to start breathing less. Simple enough, right?

First, you've got to hold your breath. Do so for as long as you can, pinching your nose and keeping your mouth shut. When you have to breath again, resist the urge to suck in huge breaths. Try to breath "normally", though it may be uncomfortable. Of course, breath only through the nose. Do this a few times if needed, and eventually you will notice your sinuses clearing.

Now, start taking shallower breaths (forget anything you've been taught about the importance of "deep breathing"), and breath more slowly. Just breath less air, and less often, than you normally would in, say, the span of two minutes. You will start to feel oxygen-starved, an increasingly uncomfortable feeling. You may start to feel lightheaded, and you may waver a bit as your body urges you to breath more. If it becomes intolerable, go back to breathing like you normally do. You're in no danger, and if you cannot go any longer just start breathing "normally" again. Breath at a comfortable rate for one minute, and then return to a shallow, slow rate and maintain this for as long as possible, to the limits of your will.

You may start to notice a tingling or popping sensation in your sinuses, after a time. And soon enough, it will be obvious that your nose is clear; at least, clearer than it was. This should feel pleasant. And rightly so, after all those years you've endured an inveterate defect with your breathing.

There is a reason that your nose cleared, without the use of drugs or any other consumerist quick-fix. It comes down to hyperventilation, and a dearth of circulating carbon dioxide in the bloodstream:

Healthy breathing occurs with a healthy balance between breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. While hyperventilating, you upset this balance by exhaling more than you inhale. This causes a rapid reduction in carbon dioxide in the body.
Low carbon dioxide levels eventually lead to narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. This reduction in blood supply to the brain leads to symptoms like lightheadedness and tingling in the fingers. Severe hyperventilation can lead to loss of consciousness.

For some people, hyperventilation is rare, and only occurs as an occasional, panicked response to fear, stress, or a phobia. For others, this condition occurs regularly as a typical response to emotional states, such as depression, anxiety, or anger. When hyperventilation is a frequent occurrence, this is known as hyperventilation syndrome.

www.healthline.com...

Essentially, depleted carbon dioxide levels in the blood are unhealthy and it can be dangerous if taken to extremes. Your body isn't stupid, and it's responses to CO2 depletion are those symptoms that cause you so much grief- namely, a blocked nose, asthma, and other forms of impaired breathing. This is actually your body's way of making you breath less, lest your circulating CO2 levels become dangerously low.

When your respiratory function is healthy and normal at rest (I.e. breathing slowly and not hyperventilating), your circulating carbon dioxide levels remain balanced. Over-breathing increases the exhalation of carbon dioxide, something your body does not want and tries to prevent. Somewhat paradoxically, flooding your body with air and reducing CO2 levels actually hurts your circulatory system's ability to transport and deliver oxygen. Healthy levels of carbon dioxide is required for aerobic organisms to efficiently "oxygenate". So, while you are over-breathing, you are simultaneously reducing the amount of oxygen your body can effectively use.

Hyperoxia, which is a clinical excess of oxygen in the bloodstream, causes reduced circulatory function. Increased circulating carbon dioxide is proven to "normalize" these negative effects:

Hyperoxic brain effects are normalized by addition of CO2

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hyperoxic ventilation (>21% O2) is widely used in medical practice for resuscitation, stroke intervention, and chronic supplementation. However, despite the objective of improving tissue oxygen delivery, hyperoxic ventilation can accentuate ischemia and impair that outcome. Hyperoxia results in, paradoxically, increased ventilation, which leads to hypocapnia, diminishing cerebral blood flow and hindering oxygen delivery. Hyperoxic delivery induces other systemic changes, including increased plasma insulin and glucagon levels and reduced myocardial contractility and relaxation, which may derive partially from neurally mediated hormonal and sympathetic outflow. Several cortical, limbic, and cerebellar brain areas regulate these autonomic processes. The aim of this study was to assess recruitment of these regions in response to hyperoxia and to determine whether any response would be countered by addition of CO2 to the hyperoxic gas mixture.
METHODS AND FINDINGS: We studied 14 children (mean age 11 y, range 8-15 y). We found, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, that 2 min of hyperoxic ventilation (100% O2) following a room air baseline elicited pronounced responses in autonomic and hormonal control areas, including the hypothalamus, insula, and hippocampus, throughout the challenge. The addition of 5% CO2 to 95% O2 abolished responses in the hypothalamus and lingual gyrus, substantially reduced insular, hippocampal, thalamic, and cerebellar patterns in the first 48 s, and abolished signals in those sites thereafter. Only the dorsal midbrain responded to hypercapnia, but not hyperoxia.
CONCLUSIONS: In this group of children, hyperoxic ventilation led to responses in brain areas that modify hypothalamus-mediated sympathetic and hormonal outflow; these responses were diminished by addition of CO2 to the gas mixture. This study in healthy children suggests that supplementing hyperoxic administration with CO2 may mitigate central and peripheral consequences of hyperoxia.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

Continued in next post......

Dr. Buteyko, a Russian medical practitioner, studied extensively the effects of over-breathing and decreased circulating carbon dioxide.

en.m.wikipedia.org...

This is what his website has to say about over-breathing:

The simple fact is that many people breathe too much (clinically known as chronic hyperventilation), altering the natural levels of gases in the blood and leading to numerous health problems, including asthma. Habitual over-breathing is primarily due to the elements of our modern lifestyles such as processed foods, lack of exercise, pollution, smoking, and excessive talking. As a result of this, breathing volume can increase to as much as 2-3 times the norm, resulting in a variety of common complaints including lethargy, difficulty sleeping, and poor concentration. Typical characteristics of over-breathing are breathing through the mouth, noticeable breathing during rest, breathing using the upper chest, regular sighing, taking large breaths prior to talking, and breathing loudly during rest.
Developing a habit of breathing too much can have significant negative consequences for long-term health, as it reduces oxygen delivery to tissues and organs, and leads to the constriction of the smooth muscles surrounding blood vessels and airways.

Buteyko Breathing Method theory (named after the Russian physician and researcher, Professor K P Buteyko) is based on the understanding that over-breathing disturbs the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our lungs. At the end of the 19th Century, carbon dioxide was found to be responsible for the bond between oxygen and haemoglobin. If the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood are lower than normal, this leads to difficulties in releasing oxygen from haemoglobin. This is known as the Bohr Effect.



In cases of severe hyperventilation and CO2 loss (hypocapnia) up to 80% of the oxygen contained in
red blood cells is returned to the lungs undelivered. This can result in a significant reduction in the oxygen supply to the brain and body tissues, a condition known as cellular hypoxia.
Loss of carbon dioxide during hyperventilation causes smooth muscle to constrict around airways and blood vessels, reducing the availability of oxygen to the brain and body tissues. Professor Buteyko maintains that this is what causes chest tightness in asthma and is the main factor in blocked noses. An asthma attack is the body’s way of attempting to reduce the airflow passing through the lungs in order to reduce carbon dioxide loss.

www.buteykobreathing.nz...

The Bohr effect basically states that a certain level of carbon dioxide in the blood is required for oxygen to be effectively delivered. Information on the Bohr effect:

en.m.wikipedia.org...




So, where am I going with all this?

Well, it's really quite simple. The western world is host to masses of people suffering from health problems that were virtually unknown in the past, "diseases of civilization", so they're called. Asthma, allergies, cancer, and a plethora of other unnatural ailments.

Add to that, everyone is on some drug. Everyone is caffeinated or doped up on some anti-depressant. They can't breath right and their sleep is poor. They are perpetually distracted, with foggy brains and clouded thoughts. Dizzy and breathless. The caffeine keeps them jittery and focused on frivolous distractions, or their tedious bureaucratic paper-pushing jobs. No time to sit and think about anything, to really think. Their myriad health concerns keep them in perpetual low-level discomfort, impeding clear thought, making their minds turbid and sloppy.

Who benefits from this, and why might this be allowed to go on? It's not for me to say. Make up you own minds, though you might come to some frightening conclusions.

haa ... thanks...
i recently got a dog, and my allergies have kicked in big time .. and when the pressure is built up and nose is running constant, ive been wondering a few times, if my sinus felt like it was loosening a bit, when i breathed shallower through my nose ...

i never took it as far as you suggest .. cos i actually thought it was just my imagintion .. i thought i wanted to feel the pressure releasing so much, that i was kinda imagining the sensation .... but only recently has it got bad again, since my dog turned to an adult i think... so, i guess i will have more opportunity to test this further

interesting
Cheers man ...

a reply to: Talorc

I followed the beginning of your directions and passed out. What about those of us who have the willpower to hold their breath until blackout?

originally posted by: SpongeBeard
a reply to: Talorc

I followed the beginning of your directions and passed out. What about those of us who have the willpower to hold their breath until blackout?

If true, then that's impressive. Though I'm not sure I believe you. The fact that you'd let someone on the Internet goad you into blacking yourself out is strange.

Better luck next time, I guess.

Thank you for these tips!

I suffer from seasonal allergies, general inflammation issues, depression, and forgetfulness to name a few things. I sit allot and notice the effect it can have on the digestive system, mind, joints, neck muscles, legs, and general well being! In recent months I noticed my mind's capacity / imagination just go *POOF*! I am like ugh... I need to get these problems fixed!

I just tried this holding technique and after after a few times of just holding my breath at the PC, I began to feel "air headed" (excuse the pun!) This was not a bad feeling, I actually began to notice that it makes me feel a bit better. Breathing less does seem to solve issues with mind fogginess too. I do drink strong coffee every morning then some breakfast and sometimes the coffee just does not work well and I feel absolutely HORRID.

How one can become so locked up on one thing only to forget how to "breathe" is beyond me, but you mention it well! We are in a constant mind fog and being bombarded with too much mentally.

originally posted by: simpsonizer


How one can become so locked up on one thing only to forget how to "breathe" is beyond me, but you mention it well! We are in a constant mind fog and being bombarded with too much mentally.

Indeed, it is odd. I assume it has much to do with our profoundly "unnatural" lifestyles, among other things like exposure to certain irritants.

People in the past knew how to breathe correctly because they had to, if they wanted to survive. They were moving constantly, and it was necessary to have the best possible respiratory function. They also assumed more natural postures (which is important for breathing), as opposed to constant slouching in front of a screen or lazing on a sofa for hours.

I recall a quote by a Native American along the lines of: "White men are the only animal to sleep and breath with their mouths hanging open". Evidently this was less common among the natives, presumably because they hadn't yet adopted physically degenerate western lifestyles.

a reply to: SpongeBeard

Me too... The ambulance will be here any minute.

There's no hyperventilating caffeinated mass. There's only a completely degraded mental condition by the intelligence agencies who are using neurological weapons.

a reply to: Flanker86

There's only a completely degraded mental condition by the intelligence agencies who are using neurological weapons.

Where do these agencies get their employees?

As for breathing, how does your breathing technique work when you are unconscious during sleep? I'm not sure how your conscious breathing has any affect on your unconscious breathing.

V

originally posted by: Variable
a reply to: Flanker86

There's only a completely degraded mental condition by the intelligence agencies who are using neurological weapons.

Where do these agencies get their employees?

As for breathing, how does your breathing technique work when you are unconscious during sleep? I'm not sure how your conscious breathing has any affect on your unconscious breathing.

V

Tape your mouth shut.

I'd like to bump this. Over the past 5 or so months I've suffered some health problems, been put on antidepressants, and resultantly seen little in the way of improvement. I had completely forgotten about this breathing technique until I chanced to be reminded of it last week. Lo, I noticed I was breathing heavily, and had a blocked nose, unbeknownst to myself and unremarked upon for some time. I re-implemented this technique and seem to be seeing some improvement. Even if arguably placebo, the literature supporting this method is abundant and there for anyone to find.

Good read here: articles.mercola.com...

I really hope to help some people with this thread if you happen to read it.