# breathing wrong?



## jontucker (Jan 17, 2007)

Hey everyone! Does anyone have a problem where you start to think about your breathing? It fustrasted me to think about it 24/7..I feel I am breathing wrong, what is the correct way to breath? thanks


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## march_hare (Jan 18, 2006)

I have breathing issues too.. I worry a lot about whether I'm breathing too loudly and if I'm annoying people, or if people think I'm weird because of the sound of my breathing. When I get really nervous I feel like I can't breath properly and my throat goes dry


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## Molydeus (Nov 12, 2003)

I have this problem.

Where I work I frequently have to go to the third story, there is an elevator but it is for freight use only. So I have to go up 7 flights of stairs (46 stairs, 26 stairs to the second floor then 20 more to the third, yes I count a lot). If I go from the first to the third I will be out of breath and need to breath heavily for a while. I am unable to do this because then people will know I am out of breath. I breath normally then when I leave I try to catch my breath because I'm about to pass out from lack of oxygen. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm hyperventilating or if I'm out of breath.


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## Zephyr (Nov 8, 2003)

I think I have breathing problems. I often find myself breathing through my mouth, and at night I can ONLY breathe through my mouth. Then I think I stop breathing and have to wake up. Hasn't killed me yet....


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

Apparently we're supposed to breath through our noses for a couple seconds, then hold our breath, and then release through the mouth for a couple seconds. Also, we shouldn't be breathing using our chest, but by using our stomach. It's not easy and needs to be practiced for awhile, but apparently, once we master this technique not only should our anxiety be alleviated, but we should also be spiritually enlightened. :yes


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## Qolselanu (Feb 15, 2006)

:agree 

This is one of the first thing my therapist told me about. He even gave me a paper detailing the proper technique. Done properly, this way of breathing relaxes you.


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## latin_maverick (May 15, 2007)

I have the same problem. I tend to breath using my mouth when I'm around people.


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## lilraspberry (Jan 2, 2007)

I too have this problem. I find it very annoying. My breathing becomes shallow and irregular around people i'm most shy around, sometimes i'm even a little out of breath because of that. 

I try to think that i might as well stop worrying (though i don't think it's fully a conscious thing) about breathing because i'm sure all it does is actually make my breathing more obvious, so i might as well breathe a little louder, which couldn't be more worth noticing than irregular breathing. Of course this doesn't stop the problem, but sometimes helps a little.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Breathing is supposed to be semi-automatic. The only time I worry about niose is when I blow my nose. I have honked a few times :lol. My Hungarian honker has a deviated septum built right in. During allergy season, I have been known to breathe through one side of my nose at a time! It's function not sound that matters! If you keep your nose clear, you should breathe pretty nice and quiet .


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## sasdf (Dec 1, 2006)

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but it sounds kinda like something I suffered from years ago. Looking back on it now, I can see that it was an OCD-type thing. It was totally in my head! I'd get this constant feeling like I wasn't breathing right, like I couldn't get a satisfying breath, so then I'd compensate by breathing too deeply and hyperventilating, which paradoxically leads you to feel like you're out of breath! Isn't the human body wonderful? The problem was that I was consciously focusing on something my body would totally take care of itself if left unattended. You'll keep on breathing whether you think about it or not and thinking about it too much just leads to trouble, at least in my case. That's why I don't ever do deep breathing exercises like they suggest in anxiety books. It just gets me into that over-focused mode and then my psychosomatic illnesses start popping up again. I know now that the reason I focus on these things is because I'm trying to avoid the *emotional* issues that are bothering me in my life. Psychosomatic problems are a little trick your mind plays on you to distract you from dealing with reality. Some people are more susceptible than others. The sooner you realize it's all in your head, the better. I must've gone to the doctor 20 times about this stupid thing and all along all I had to do was think about what was *really* bothering me. Once I did that, the breathing problem disappeared. I had a similar problem with back pain as well that resolved itself when I realized it was the same thing.


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## Ramondo (Feb 16, 2011)

jontucker said:


> Hey everyone! Does anyone have a problem where you start to think about your breathing? It fustrasted me to think about it 24/7..I feel I am breathing wrong, what is the correct way to breath? thanks


Breathing incorrectly doesn't cause SA, so you needn't worry about that. The fact that you are still around to post means that you are breathing adequately!
On the other hand, regular breathing exercises can help to reduce anxiety. Being mindful of your breathing every now and then can tell you when you are breath-holding or tensing your chest muscles too much. But I can imagine it's annoying if you're obsessed with it - that would have the reverse effect.


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## Reclus (Jan 11, 2012)

^ Sorry, but you are wrong: breathing incorrectly causes all sorts of anxiety. If, due to obstructed airways, you are not getting enough oxygen into your bloodstream through your lungs, your brain becomes oxygen-deprived and the automatic response from your brain is to alert you through ratcheting up your level of anxiety.

Sadly, modern doctors do not have very good diagnostics skills and often end up prescribing anti-depressants to patients who are actually suffering from a curable physiological condition. Unfortunately, no matter how happy the happy pills make you, they will not fix obstructed airways.

And positive thinking or therapy in themselves will not fix these issues either.

To those of you above who cannot breathe through your nose and cannot sleep properly because of it, this is a classic clinical sign of some sort of ENT problem, ranging from an allergy through to nasal polyps, a deviated septum, or even sleep apnea. Do not muck around with this stuff - go to your doctor and ask for a referral to a specialist if your GP cannot work out what is wrong.

Best wishes


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## Ramondo (Feb 16, 2011)

Reclus said:


> ^ Sorry, but you are wrong: breathing incorrectly causes all sorts of anxiety.


We might be misunderstanding each other. What I said was that abnormal breathing is not the cause of Social Anxiety. 
I have already agreed in the same post that proper breathing techniques can lessen anxiety.


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## riptide991 (Feb 1, 2012)

Reclus said:


> ^ Sorry, but you are wrong: breathing incorrectly causes all sorts of anxiety. If, due to obstructed airways, you are not getting enough oxygen into your bloodstream through your lungs, your brain becomes oxygen-deprived and the automatic response from your brain is to alert you through ratcheting up your level of anxiety.
> 
> Sadly, modern doctors do not have very good diagnostics skills and often end up prescribing anti-depressants to patients who are actually suffering from a curable physiological condition. Unfortunately, no matter how happy the happy pills make you, they will not fix obstructed airways.
> 
> ...


The funny thing is that panic attacks are often caused by over-breathing. This is why people who experience panic attacks are told to breathe into a bag in order to get some carbon dioxide in your lungs and less oxygen.


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## Zack (Apr 20, 2013)

I had a similar problem about *blinking* when I was in primary school (when I was 5 or 6). I remember that I would obsess about blinking. Am I blinking too much? Do I look strange? How much should I blink? I don't know why.


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## Reclus (Jan 11, 2012)

kehcorpz said:


> The funny thing is that panic attacks are often caused by over-breathing. This is why people who experience panic attacks are told to breathe into a bag in order to get some carbon dioxide in your lungs and less oxygen.


So true. The whole "do some breathing exercises and all will be solved" approach didn't do much for me, particularly as I later found out I had obstructed airways, which were the root cause of my social and other anxiety issues. It's a bit like telling someone on crutches to go for a daily jog. :roll


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