Anxiety symptoms to do with breathing can be some of the most frightening that we have to deal with.
Breathing is the vital bodily function we are most aware of. We can have terrible problems with our heart and other organs and not know about it for years, but the second breathing becomes difficult we feel anxiety and maybe even panic, because we know that without air we won’t survive for long.
But our fear is misguided. The breathing problems caused by anxiety are not real physical problems, they are just our throat becoming slightly congested due to the extra blood flowing through the veins in our necks (read anxiety symptoms: throat for more details).
Often we feel these symptoms to do with breathing when we have anxiety:
- Feel like we can’t swallow
- Feel we can’t breath in or breath out
- Feel we can’t get a full breath
- Feel we can’t control our breathing
- Feel like our breathing is too fast and is getting out of control.
In fact all of these are symptoms of anxiety and specifically symptoms of hyperventilation (please read this post on Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome and Anxiety for more info.)
If we learn to relax our breathing and breath slowly and gently from the abdomen, then our symptoms will subside. Good breathing is not just for anxiety attacks, it is for life and should be practised every day.
Hyperventilation is not just a symptom of anxiety, it is also a cause. If you can improve your breathing habits, your default breathing pattern, then anxiety can be banished for good.