Some effects of over-breathing.
The big picture from the Symmetry newsletter - LV’s Midweek Memo:
🤓Nerd Moment: over breathing (don’t make it a habit!)
Why not?
Over breathing (often due to mouth breathing as your mode of everyday breathing) can
cause a host of issues including…
Making your body work harder even at rest (and especially during athletic endeavors).
Chronic stress (See last week’s email regarding chronic stress, or hit reply and we can talk about why stress in and of itself isn’t bad, but chronic stress can be!)
Poor sleep quality.
Keep reading to dig deeper! (A less than 1 minute read.)
What is over-breathing?
When you’re breathing in excess of your metabolic output… i.e. if you’re breathing either faster or with more volume than your body is demanding of you.
Ok so what?
When we over-breathe we are dropping the levels of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
But we need CO2 available in order to allow the Oxygen (O2) to get into the tissues (including brain + muscles).
Without enough CO2, the body has to work harder to get O2 where it needs it, which means things like:
Increased heart rate
Quicker fatigue during exercise
Longer time needed for proper recovery
Feeling of breathlessness
Reduction in blood flow, which can lead to feelings of dizziness or light headedness
Increase in perceived pain
Bad mood
Sleep issues
Weight gain
Disease
Chronic stress
Great… what can we do?
