Health for a lifetime >>>> It is impossible to take a full breath

It is impossible to take a full breath.

Often there is a state when you want to take a deep breath, but something limits this possibility, this causes anxiety in a person, panic and further aggravates the condition. Why is it impossible to take a full breath? This is quite common is not always caused by disease.

A person has three breathing rhythms: automatic (eipnea), superficial (hypopnea) and deep (hyperpnea). Physiologically, these three types of breathing are due to the fact that full filling of the lungs (full inhalation, deep inhalation) is necessary for the body only in cases of a lack of oxygen in the body and in particular in the brain, which regulates our breathing. The brain is a quantitative monitor of blood oxygen saturation. When the level of oxygen in the blood decreases, the brain sends a signal, and the person reflexively takes a deep breath.

In a calm state, a person breathes automatically, and in one automatic breath, approximately 400-500 ml of air enters the lungs - this volume is enough for the smooth functioning of all body systems. With a deep breath, up to 2000 ml of air enters the lungs. And with shallow breathing, less than 400 ml of air can enter the lungs.

All breathing rhythms are directly related to the speed of breathing (frequency of inspirations) and to the work of the muscular corset of the chest and diaphragmatic muscle (chest breathing and diaphragmatic breathing). In addition to the central nervous system, a healthy person can regulate his own breathing and, under certain circumstances, is able to change breathing patterns or breathing patterns (thoracic and diaphragmatic).

In men and infants, diaphragmatic breathing is predominant. Women are more comfortable with chest breathing or mixed. This is due to the specifics of the anatomy and physiology of the female body, when during pregnancy there is no possibility to breathe using the diaphragm, and the body has developed in advance the woman's ability to breathe involuntarily with the “breast”. Males who do not have sports training (chest breathing) switch from diaphragmatic breathing to chest breathing in cases when they overeat (a full stomach restricts the work of the diaphragmatic muscles and makes it difficult to breathe with the "stomach"), experience discomfort in the abdomen (for example, in the intestines) or are unable to make a diaphragmatic inhalation due to excessive fat deposits in the peritoneal region.

The speed of breathing and the depth of breaths can change the volume of air entering the lungs, which is what the body reflexively uses when situations arise that prevent automatic breathing - it switches to deep and rare breathing or switches to shallow and frequent breathing. These are compensatory breathing methods, which are considered pathological, since they signal the inability of the body to work in automatic respiration (normal breathing) mode.

There are a number of painful conditions that force a person to switch to chest breathing: postoperative sutures in the abdomen; pain in the abdomen caused by flatulence, bowel disorders; pain in the lumbar spine (including pinching of the nerve endings in the spine); ascites; pain in the area of the muscles of the diaphragm (for example, overstretching as a result of superphysical load on the diaphragm); pain in the abdominal muscles (sports or any physical overload); pain due to intestinal adhesions; pain in the kidneys, bladder, ovaries and other internal organs below the diaphragm. This is due to the fact that diaphragmatic breathing is associated with the deflection of the diaphragm downwards and the creation of space in the chest cavity for the lungs to expand. The diaphragm begins to put pressure on the internal organs of the abdominal region and small pelvis (it thickens the tissues), which causes pain and reflex straightening of the diaphragm muscles, which will prevent the lungs from occupying the required volume in the chest. In this case, the body reflexively switches to chest inhalation.

There are also a number of conditions that interfere with breathing through the chest, and force a person to forcibly switch to diaphragmatic breathing. This can happen with myositis of the intercostal muscles, neuralgia of the intercostal muscles, with overstretching of the pectoral muscles after intense training, with osteochondrosis of the thoracic and cervical spine (causes pain syndrome), with diseases or disorders of the heart muscle (including angina pectoris), with injuries or abnormalities bone corset of the thoracic spine (curvature of the ribs, improper fusion of the ribs after injury), with overcrowding of the stomach and intestines, with reflex spasm of the intercostal muscles involved in respiratory function.

A person automatically takes a deep breath (full breath) in a pectoral way of breathing, in which the respiratory pectoral muscles are involved - the intercostal muscles. These muscles contract, making it possible for the lungs to straighten out - to increase the volume, and then relax, making it possible to make a passive exhalation (by the way, exhalation is always a passive movement of the lungs, which are pressed by the muscles of the chest and the diaphragm, it is impossible to forcibly exhale without inhaling. exhale intermittently, forcibly stopping, holding the breath).

It is almost impossible to take a deep breath in a diaphragmatic way - the pectoral muscles will somehow participate in a forced deep breath. Only special diaphragmatic breathing training can help to take a full breath using the diaphragm. Therefore, unconsciously, a person makes a full breath in the chest breathing method. And in a state where a deep breath is not complete, he begins to try to take a deep breath again, and again, and again.

With unsuccessful attempts, a person develops a nervous tension that sends signals to the brain that there is a lack of air (more precisely, oxygen), which in fact is not there. Since the central nervous system controls the composition of the blood and does not respond to the nerve impulses of a person's panic state, it does not use the respiratory center in the brain and does not send a signal to take a full breath - in other words, it does not allow a person to take a forced full breath so that the blood is not saturated with oxygen. which is also dangerous and can provoke, for example, fainting from an excess of oxygen in the brain. This condition, when a person tries to forcibly take a deep breath, and the central nervous system does not allow it to be done, is called hyperventilation of the lungs.

But the nervous tension arising from the inability to forcibly breathe in deeply is also transmitted to the centers that control the production of adrenaline, which is released into the blood and causes the heart muscle to contract faster, thereby increasing blood pressure and causing blood flow to the brain and oversaturation of brain oxygen, which can react by disabling some functions, and in particular, cause loss of consciousness, but will not allow you to take a deep breath. That is why very often people, in a state where can't breathe deeply, become nervous and lose consciousness. They come to their senses and begin to breathe normally automatically, and without thinking about the depth of inhalation.

In order not to bring oneself to fainting with an unsuccessful deep breath and simply restore breathing, it makes sense to forcibly stop attempts to deep breathing or create prerequisites for the normalization of breathing - its transition to an automatic normal mode. There are several ways to restore automatic respiration and exit the hyperventilation state:

Breathing in a bag creates an atmosphere oversaturated with carbon dioxide and forces the brain to regulate breathing to receive a portion of oxygen - to take a full breath.
Forced slow shallow breathing by the diaphragm allows you to create a situation where air will enter in small portions, and during normal exhalation, the flow rate will be greater than the intake, and gradually hyperventilation will stop, and the brain will need a new portion of oxygen, which will allow you to take a full breath.
Instead of repeatedly taking an impossible full breath, vigorous physical exercises must be done, forcing the muscles to expend energy and increase blood circulation, which in turn will cause the body's natural need for oxygen and force the central nervous system to give an impulse to the respiratory center to make breathing deeply.

The state of hyperventilation of the lungs can develop at moments that are completely unrelated to disease. So the reason for the inability to take a deep breath may be a long sedentary pastime and a sudden desire to take a deep breath in order to straighten the chest and lungs. Often a similar phenomenon occurs when a person is passively resting and wants to breathe fresh air, for which he takes a forced deep breath, which ultimately does not work. Sometimes it is impossible to take a deep breath while lying in bed for a long time. But most often it is the latent nervous tension and sedentary life in the complex that create the prerequisites for the development of attacks of hyperventilation of the lungs.

Neglected situations, when a person often has a state of hyperventilation due to latent nervous tension, which he himself does not associate with respiratory rhythm disturbances, are treated with medication - taking sedatives and antidepressants. Since it is they that relieve internal stress, eliminate hidden stress and allow you to get rid of the bouts of hyperventilation that regularly visit a person.