How to Breath When You're Breathless

Breathlessness is a symptom of the Covid19 virus.  The feeling of not getting enough air causes people to do the worst thing possible; breathe in more air!  What?   You need more carbon dioxide, not more oxygen.

Because covid is an upper respiratory disease, it attacks the lungs, particularly the lung surfactant.  This substance allows for lung movement and elasticity.

Lowered levels of surfactant result in stiff lungs that do not move.
Lungs that do not move cannot take air deep enough in to feed the lower portions of the lung.  
Stiff lungs result in the panicked feeling of not being able to breathe enough air. 

Breathing expert, Patrick McKeown of Oxygen Advantage, suggests a simple breathing exercise to calm brain and get the proper blood gases in balance so the oxygen can get into the cells for energy and into the deep portions of lungs.

Gases that are produced by Nasal Breath Holds:

1. Nitrous oxide

2.  Carbon dioxide  

We need these gases to get oxygen into cells, into the lungs

We don't need more oxygen, 

we need the complimentary gases   

Check out this video for a great breathing exercise to help deal with breathlessness or short of breath: 

Breathe regular for 10 seconds.

Exhale.  Pinch nose for 5 seconds.

Inhale through nose.  

Breathe regularly for 10 seconds.

Exhale.  Pinch nose 5  seconds

Repeat for 2 and one-half minutes.  

PS....if you cannot hold breath for 5 seconds, hold until you feel discomfort and want to breathe.  Just practice pinching nose and holding breath then breathe regularly by breathing in nose first. 

Coronavirus Wellness at Home Tip #3: Nasal Breathing

Breathe in and out of your nose to reduce risk of coronavirus infection!

I'm not a doctor.  I'm not an infectious disease specialist.  I am a nervous system specialist and I've been reading a lot of government and medical suggestions to help you stay healthy at home.

I'm here to share simple, holistic practices that you can EASILY incorporate into your daily routine.  This one is as easy as it gets; breathe through your nose!

Why?

• Nose hairs trap pathogens.  
• Nose hairs increase carbon dioxide (good gas needed in blood/gas balance).  
• Nose hairs increase nitrous oxide which has been shown to defend against airborne viruses.  Nitrous Oxide is produced in the paranasal sinuses.
• Nasal breathing is the body's first line of defense against infection

I suggest breathing in AND out of the nose.  If necessary, exhale through the mouth.  Try to breathe in and out of the nose.  I have a "Relaxator" in my mouth in this video.  A Relaxator is a respiration training tool that forces you to breathe in the nose and long, strong exhales through the mouth. 

The more actions you take, the safer you will be....after all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

From Conscious Breathing (Relaxator maker), 

another important reason why you should breathe through your nose:

1. A COLD NOSE WILL INCREASE THE RISK OF VIRUS INFECTIONS:  Our nose can be compared to a highly efficient heat exchanger that warms up and moistens the air. 

When inhaling, our nose becomes cooled and dry as it moistens and heats the inhaled air, which is usually cooler than our body temperature. 

When we exhale, the temperature inside our nose is raised, and the area is moisturized by the 37 degree Celsius (98.6° Farenheit) temperature and 100% moist air being returned from the lungs. 

If we, on the other hand, breathe in through our nose and out through our mouth, the nose will not restore it’s warmth and moisture upon exhalation. And if we breathe both in and out through our mouth, our nose will be constantly cold and dry.

Research shows that the rhinovirus, which is known to cause colds and infections in the upper respiratory tracts, will multiply when the nose cools down. The colder it is in the nose, the more the immune system is suppressed, which will create a favorable environment for the rhinovirus to reproduce (ref 2). Now, we do not know exactly how the coronavirus behaves, but it is not inconceivable that a cold nose offers an environment that is favorable for this virus to also propagate.substance.

Science of Breathing for a Healthy Brain

A healthy brain needs two things; fuel and activation.  The two types of fuel your brain needs are glucose and oxygen.  You need to eat and breathe.  Eating for a healthy brain is an entirely different blog so in this post I'd like to talk about breathing, particularly carbon dioxide.

Growing up, we were taught to believe that oxygen is good and carbon dioxide is bad.  That's half true: carbon dioxide is also good.  In fact, carbon dioxide drives respiration.  Movement produces carbon dioxide.

This is not good news if you don't move.  If you don't move much, you're not producing carbon dioxide.  You're over breathing, meaning you're taking in too much oxygen, but without carbon dioxide, your cells cannot get the oxygen you need.   The oxygen gets stuck in the bloodstream.

In all simplicity, carbon dioxide is a messenger molecule.  It attaches to the oxygen molecule and takes it into the cell.  100% blood oxygen is NOT GOOD.  95-97% Oxygen saturation is good.

Here is an excellent article about carbon dioxide:  Science of Breathing. Truth about Carbon Dioxide

How to you increase carbon dioxide?  You move.  You exercise.  Nasal breathing. And most important, you bag breathe.  Not like you're hyperventilating but slow and controlled.  In a bag, 30 seconds, 3-4 times per day.

Just breathe.