Don't Panic: How to Breathe Your Way Out of a Panic Attack

Image via MBX12

Rapid and shallow breathers, myself included, have been found to be more passive, fearful and shy according to a study of 160 women and men.

Slow and deep breathers, on the other hand, were found to be more confident, emotionally stable, physically and intellectually more active.

As a chronically anxious agoraphobic, it describes me to a t. Most anxious people are probably unaware that their breathing patterns contribute to their anxiety. I was one of them. I thought the whole "breathe through your belly" thing a load of crap and a total nuisance. Breathing is automatic. Why should I have to change the way I breathe? My anxiety has nothing to do with my breathing technique.

Maybe not but once I tried deep, slow belly breathing, I experienced a sort of natural high. A floating calm. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It all depends on the severity of one's anxiety and the ability and motivation to concentrate, something that I find extremely difficult when highly aroused.

Being naturally curious and needing to know exactly how things work, I set out to find out the anatomy of breathing. So, I googled "breathing oxygen co2" and after reading a number of articles I was even more confused than before.

My understanding--in simplest terms--was that we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Which is true. But what I wanted to know was how the level of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the bloodstream affects our emotions, ie. feeling calm or feeling aroused.

What confused me was this article on LiveScience. The headline To Stave Off Panic, Don't Take a Deep Breath threw me. From reading numerous CBT books and attending CBT sessions, breathing deeply was recommended. This study didn't make any sense.

“Panicking people are often told to calm down and ‘take a deep breath,’ Meuret said. But for someone hyperventilating during a panic attack, deep breathing is a bad idea. That's because hyperventilation happens when people breathe so quickly and deeply that they expel an unusually high amount of carbon dioxide, which in turn causes symptoms like dizziness and numbness. Those symptoms tend to make people feel like they're suffocating, so they breathe quicker and deeper, further exacerbating the problem.”

That makes no sense to me. I thought that breathing quickly and shallowly (chest breathing) is what causes too much CO2 to be expelled. Is it possible to breathe quickly and deeply through the chest? Doesn't deep breathing imply using the diaphragm? If someone better informed can explain this to me I would really appreciate it because I feel a little dumb right now. ;) 

If I'm understanding this correctly, the crux is that breathing out too much CO2 causes the level of CO2 in the bloodstream to fall, thus making our bloodstream too acidic or is it too basic which makes our nerve cells more excitable. Bah, why is this so confusing, damn it. 

Finally, I figured it out. Or more accurately, Lars Refling over at Quora explained it.

“In a healthy person, the CO2 level in your bloodstream is kept in a narrow range and determines the automatic breathing rate via the respiratory centre in your brain stem. If the CO2 level in your blood increases for any reason, the brain stem responds by increasing the number of breaths per minute to blow off the increased CO2. If the CO2 level becomes too high, coma results. If your CO2 is below the normal range, the respiratory centre does the opposite. For example, this is part of an acute panic attack. If the individual over breathes due to anxiety or fear, the respiratory centre responds by sending a signal to not take a breath. This results in the individual getting even more panicked, ‘I can’t breathe’. Thus the advice to breathe from a paper bag.”

Thank you, Lars. :) 

When experiencing a panic attack, do take a deep breath but do it slowly. The slower you breathe, the less CO2 you expel. That way your body won't have to send signals to your brain to slow down your breathing in order to maintain the optimal levels of oxygen and CO2 in the bloodstream. 

How To Breathe During a Panic Attack

Breathe in through your nose to the count of 3. Hold it in for a second and then exhale slowly, also to the count of 3. You can count as high as it's comfortable for you. Start at 3. It will be much easier if you're breathing rapidly due to a panic or anxiety attack. Increase to four and then five for a deeper calm.

To ensure you're breathing deeply, place your hand over your belly and as you exhale, your belly should rise if you're using your diaphragm.

Check out the gif's below.

Image via In Pursuit of Yoga

Image via In Pursuit of Yoga

When breathing deeply (belly breathing) the diaphragm contracts and relaxes while the ribs remain stable unlike during shallow chest breathing where the ribs are being lifted.

Click on the images above for a more detailed explanation of belly vs chest breathing at In Pursuit of Yoga.