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The biggest nutritional deficiency may be Oxygen and CO2.
There is enough oxygen but it is not being utilized because people are hyperventilating or breathing too much.
When you take a large breath you expel more CO2, which is needed to liberate oxygen from the hemoglobin. The slower you breathe the more CO2 you concentrate, which is a by-product, not simply a waste product, of your metabolism that helps utilize oxygen. This illustrates the fundamental principle of nutrition that cofactor nutrients for utilization of other nutrients can be more important than a lack of input of nutrients.
Oxygen deprivation leads to lower energy and contributes to a whole range of conditions from fatigue, asthma, heart disease, anxiety, and any and all symptom as this is a fundamental weakness in production of energy in the mitochondria of cells involved in all diseases. The focus of health should be first the cell, as that is the level at which energy is produced that that body uses to heal itself. Do not focus on body parts like adrenals and other hormones, these are symptoms of deeper production of energy.
There is no need to ask, “Will breath help my X chronic health problem?” The answer is usually YES.
If you want to go deeper you have to ask is which combination of the 6 root causes is affecting your breath and energy production, as I have written about many times. I will focus mainly on the breath mechanism for now.
Hyperventilation creates the well recognized condition of “respiratory alkalosis” of the blood. CO2 is a weak acid and necessary to balance the pH of the blood. As a result of low oxygen utilization the tissues become anaerobic and create lactic acid to make the tissues like muscles acidic. The blood can be full saturated with oxygen but it is not being utilized.
There are actually 4 parts to breathing optimally involving the brain, nose, diaphragm and lymph.
BRAIN
There is a problem in the brain’s sensing mechanism that would otherwise slow the breath to utilize oxygen better. The brain’s response to oxygen deprivation from overbreathing is to breathe harder. It does not know that a lack of CO2 is the problem, not a lack of oxygen.
It’s like being in fight or flight mode in which your body wants to run so you breathe heavily, that is the best way I can explain it. I see this as an aspect of nervous system dysregulation that is a part of many health problems. By correcting breathing habits the brain can learn to inhale less, and this is a key way to balance the nervous system and a stressed brain. Nevertheless, this broader context of hyperventilation as autonomic nervous systems dysregulation is not generally discussed in the English language literature.
NOSE
The first step to healthy breathing is to close the mouth and breathe through the nose. Nasal breathing adds nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels to improve circulation to deliver oxygen.
DIAPHRAGM
The diaphragm is the muscle in your midsection that you use to breathe. It’s full use is felt when breathing in the belly, a lower breath. There is a problem when breathing mainly higher in the chest. Research shows that belly breathing delivers more oxygen.
LYMPH
It is important to move, even just walking. Movement produces more nitric oxide and also moves the lymph system. The lymph system is part of the circulatory system since the arterial capillaries feed into the lymph fluid and the lymph flows back into the veins and heart. So if lymph liquid stops flowing, then blood flow in the capillaries could stagnate.
PROGRAM
Breathe through the nose
Breathe through the lower belly.
Breathe lighter, shallower, less.
Move your body.
This system is known as Buteyko breathing is named after a Dr. Buteyko and is part of the medical system in Russia. There are teachers in the west that have not been teaching the full range of techniques to breathe less that are known to some Russian trainers. That’s why it did not work when I tried it. American trainers have relied mostly on holding the breath to train the body to breathe less, and this can backfire and lead to gasping for air and even increasing anxiety.
Oxygen deprivation through hyperventilation remains a much under-diagnosed problem. In fact, most advice is to “take a deep breath” and this will make things even worse. Some yoga instructors who show people how to take a deep breath all day have become sick until they learned to breathe properly. Classic yoga methods do not advise forcing the breath like that. There may be some specialized techniques of accelerated breathing but not as normal breathing or to be used often. Yoga emphasizes ease with the goal of breathing less or hardly at all. Shallow breathing as the goal is found in Indian yoga meditations and Chinese traditions of chi gong and martial arts.
Anyone can begin immediately to close their mouth and breathe through the nose and practice breathing through their lower belly to start with, these have many benefits if you can be aware enough to make it a habit. Begin moving more if you are not already. Techniques for breathing less are numerous and you need to figure out which few are most important. I can help you do that. . People need individualized root cause analysis and programs, as the Buteyko theory states many of these:
The definitive diagnosis is easy to do and is called the Buteyko Control Pause:
Exhale and then hold your breath until the first urge to breathe.
When you inhale if you gasp for air, or take a larger than normal breath, then you held it too long.
Ideal is 60 seconds, which is rare.
Most people are in 20s or 30s, which is not really healthy, especially 20s.
Between 10-20 is pretty significant chronic illness.
Lower then 10 is serious.
Oxygen can be considered our most important nutrient since it is the one we can do without for the shortest time. Not addressing hyperventilation can be one of the major reasons people with chronic illnesses do not get better, and why they got weak enough to take on infections, etc.
This discussion of Buteyko is mostly an illustration of the science, not my first recommendation.
I prefer to start with relaxing the contrainst on breath in structural alignment and let the breath happen naturally.
There is enough oxygen but it is not being utilized because people are hyperventilating or breathing too much.
When you take a large breath you expel more CO2, which is needed to liberate oxygen from the hemoglobin. The slower you breathe the more CO2 you concentrate, which is a by-product, not simply a waste product, of your metabolism that helps utilize oxygen. This illustrates the fundamental principle of nutrition that cofactor nutrients for utilization of other nutrients can be more important than a lack of input of nutrients.
Oxygen deprivation leads to lower energy and contributes to a whole range of conditions from fatigue, asthma, heart disease, anxiety, and any and all symptom as this is a fundamental weakness in production of energy in the mitochondria of cells involved in all diseases. The focus of health should be first the cell, as that is the level at which energy is produced that that body uses to heal itself. Do not focus on body parts like adrenals and other hormones, these are symptoms of deeper production of energy.
There is no need to ask, “Will breath help my X chronic health problem?” The answer is usually YES.
If you want to go deeper you have to ask is which combination of the 6 root causes is affecting your breath and energy production, as I have written about many times. I will focus mainly on the breath mechanism for now.
Hyperventilation creates the well recognized condition of “respiratory alkalosis” of the blood. CO2 is a weak acid and necessary to balance the pH of the blood. As a result of low oxygen utilization the tissues become anaerobic and create lactic acid to make the tissues like muscles acidic. The blood can be full saturated with oxygen but it is not being utilized.
There are actually 4 parts to breathing optimally involving the brain, nose, diaphragm and lymph.
BRAIN
There is a problem in the brain’s sensing mechanism that would otherwise slow the breath to utilize oxygen better. The brain’s response to oxygen deprivation from overbreathing is to breathe harder. It does not know that a lack of CO2 is the problem, not a lack of oxygen.
It’s like being in fight or flight mode in which your body wants to run so you breathe heavily, that is the best way I can explain it. I see this as an aspect of nervous system dysregulation that is a part of many health problems. By correcting breathing habits the brain can learn to inhale less, and this is a key way to balance the nervous system and a stressed brain. Nevertheless, this broader context of hyperventilation as autonomic nervous systems dysregulation is not generally discussed in the English language literature.
NOSE
The first step to healthy breathing is to close the mouth and breathe through the nose. Nasal breathing adds nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels to improve circulation to deliver oxygen.
DIAPHRAGM
The diaphragm is the muscle in your midsection that you use to breathe. It’s full use is felt when breathing in the belly, a lower breath. There is a problem when breathing mainly higher in the chest. Research shows that belly breathing delivers more oxygen.
LYMPH
It is important to move, even just walking. Movement produces more nitric oxide and also moves the lymph system. The lymph system is part of the circulatory system since the arterial capillaries feed into the lymph fluid and the lymph flows back into the veins and heart. So if lymph liquid stops flowing, then blood flow in the capillaries could stagnate.
PROGRAM
Breathe through the nose
Breathe through the lower belly.
Breathe lighter, shallower, less.
Move your body.
This system is known as Buteyko breathing is named after a Dr. Buteyko and is part of the medical system in Russia. There are teachers in the west that have not been teaching the full range of techniques to breathe less that are known to some Russian trainers. That’s why it did not work when I tried it. American trainers have relied mostly on holding the breath to train the body to breathe less, and this can backfire and lead to gasping for air and even increasing anxiety.
Oxygen deprivation through hyperventilation remains a much under-diagnosed problem. In fact, most advice is to “take a deep breath” and this will make things even worse. Some yoga instructors who show people how to take a deep breath all day have become sick until they learned to breathe properly. Classic yoga methods do not advise forcing the breath like that. There may be some specialized techniques of accelerated breathing but not as normal breathing or to be used often. Yoga emphasizes ease with the goal of breathing less or hardly at all. Shallow breathing as the goal is found in Indian yoga meditations and Chinese traditions of chi gong and martial arts.
Anyone can begin immediately to close their mouth and breathe through the nose and practice breathing through their lower belly to start with, these have many benefits if you can be aware enough to make it a habit. Begin moving more if you are not already. Techniques for breathing less are numerous and you need to figure out which few are most important. I can help you do that. . People need individualized root cause analysis and programs, as the Buteyko theory states many of these:
- Mouth breathing due to sinuses clogged by allergies, toxins, and infections.
- Chest breathing due to bad posture especially sitting in chairs.
- Rapid breathing due to a stressed nervous system that may have to be addressed if breathing techniques alone are not enough. Stress can be emotional, toxicity from electricity, mercury, mold, food allergies, etc.
- For those too weak to walk other ways to move the lymph need to be found.
- Nutritional deficiencies need to be addressed to complete energy production and oxygen utilization.
The definitive diagnosis is easy to do and is called the Buteyko Control Pause:
Exhale and then hold your breath until the first urge to breathe.
When you inhale if you gasp for air, or take a larger than normal breath, then you held it too long.
Ideal is 60 seconds, which is rare.
Most people are in 20s or 30s, which is not really healthy, especially 20s.
Between 10-20 is pretty significant chronic illness.
Lower then 10 is serious.
Oxygen can be considered our most important nutrient since it is the one we can do without for the shortest time. Not addressing hyperventilation can be one of the major reasons people with chronic illnesses do not get better, and why they got weak enough to take on infections, etc.
This discussion of Buteyko is mostly an illustration of the science, not my first recommendation.
I prefer to start with relaxing the contrainst on breath in structural alignment and let the breath happen naturally.
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See how I support you fully:
Health Coaching Steps
I work over video: Facebook, Zoom, Google, from Michigan, USA
Hess.PaulC@gmail.com
Join me on Facebook where I blog post. FACEBOOK
