08-Hypocapnia, Respiratory Alkalosis: Key Causes of Deaths In the Most Sick

Hypocapnia means low levels of carbon dioxide (usually in the arterial blood). Dr. Buteyko, the author of the Buteyko breathing technique investigated hypocapnia and its effects in healthy and sick people.

What is known about breathing of severely sick and dying people? They breathe heavy and fast, about 4-6 times more than the medical norm. It is a normal clinical finding that with approaching death, breathing becomes faster and deeper, while oxygen levels in the brain and other cells become smaller and smaller.

Separate web pages of NormalBreathing.com have medical references that confirmed very high respiratory rates (labored breathing with up to 30-40 breaths per minute!) in terminal cancer, last stages of HIV-AIDS, cystic fibrosis, and other conditions.

What are the effects? Overbreathing or hyperventilation leads to hypocapnia (low arterial carbon dioxide) and respiratory alkalosis.

Hypocapnia causes vasoconstriction and reduced Bohr effect. More info about other effects of hypocapnia: http://www.normalbreathing.com/d/hypocapnia.php

As a result of severe hypocapnia, levels of oxygen in the brain and heart becomes critically low. Respiratory alkalosis suppresses the immune system and causes numerous health problems, including bronchospasm, generation of free radicals due to anaerobic cell respiration and many others.

In the 1950's, observations of breathing patterns in dying hospital patients led to the discovery of the Buteyko breathing method. Dr. Buteyko suggested that we need to slow down our heavy breathing back to the medical norm, if we want to survive. iIf we get more carbon dioxide in the arterial blood, we get more oxygen in cells due to hypocapnic vasodilation and Bohr effect.

This video provides many medical quotes that you can find on web page Heavy Breathing or How Terminally Sick Die due to hyperventilation:
http://www.normalbreathing.com/patterns-heavy-breathing.php

More about the Buteyko breathing method:
http://www.normalbreathing.com/buteyko.php

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• hypocapnia
• respiratory alkalosis
• carbon
• dioxide
• Buteyko
• breathing
• technique
• method
• hyperventilation