What Is Hyperventilation? - Definition, Causes, Symptoms & Treatments

Hyperventilation

Occurs when you breathe faster and deeper than normal. This type of breathing prevents adequate gas exchange from taking place in your lungs, and your blood loses carbon dioxide because you're taking in oxygen at an unusually fast rate.

Treatment Options

If you have frequent bouts of hyperventilation, a psychologist may be able to help you identify the underlying cause if your symptoms are anxiety or panic related, and they may be able to teach you relaxation or meditations technique. You can also exercise regularly, perform yoga, or practice deep breathing. If these techniques aren't effective, you may be prescribed a beta blocker to help lower overall anxiety levels.

Symptoms of Hyperventilation

In addition to hyperventilation, you may also experience feelings of anxiety, lightheadedness, tingling or numbness in the feet, hands, or mouth and an irregular heart rate. Other symptoms include sighing, yawning, and what is called air hunger - needing to breathe and feeling like you can't get enough air in your lungs. Symptoms tend to last 20-30 minutes and can cause further anxiety during an attack.

Less common symptoms

There may also experience some other symptoms that many people do not associate with hyperventilation. These include headaches, bloating, burping, sweating, blurred vision, trouble concentrating, or even fainting.

Treatment Options

For mild symptoms, you can learn techniques to stop it from happening. The goal is to raise the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which is achieved by slowing down breathing. Thus, breathing more carbon dioxide, adjusted your blood levels.

What causes hyperventilation to occur?

The most common causes of sudden hyperventilation include stress, anxiety, physical exertion, fever and some medications. Certain panic disorders and asthma may also cause hyperventilation. If hypervention is chronic (long-lasting), it may be indicative of another disease, such as asthma, emphysema, or even lung cancer.

Lesson Summary

What have we learned? Hyperventilation, occurs when your breathing becomes imbalanced, allowing more oxygen in than carbon dioxide out, permitting a deficit of carbon dioxide in the blood. This can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded, have difficulty breathing. There are also a number of symptoms you may not think are associated with hyperventilation, such as headache, sweating, trouble concentrating or fainting. Hyperventilantation can be caused by panic disorders, illness, anxiety, stress or a side effect of certain medications.