# How long can a person hyperventilate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-person-hyperventilate/487307 "2009-02-25T01:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-person-hyperventilate/487307/1 "2009-02-25T01:47:57Z")
I was wondering if anyone knows how long the average person can hyperventilate before something bad happens that requires medical intervention. Also, if something bad happens, what would it be? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-person-hyperventilate/487307/2 "2009-02-25T02:38:06Z")
My experience is that hypervenilating for only a few minutes can cause light-headedness, but to require medical attention would take quite a while. According to Wikipedia the following are the effects caused by hyperventilation… Counterintuitively, such side effects are not precipitated by the sufferer’s lack of oxygen or air. Rather, the hyperventilation itself **reduces the carbon dioxide concentration of the blood to below its normal level, thereby raising the blood’s pH value, initiating constriction of the blood vessels which supply the brain, and preventing the transport of certain electrolytes necessary for the function of the nervous system**. Hyperventilation can, but does not necessarily always cause **symptoms such as numbness or tingling in the hands, feet and lips, lightheadedness, dizziness, headache, chest pain, slurred speech and sometimes fainting, particularly when accompanied by the Valsalva maneuver**. Sometimes hyperventilation is induced for these same effects. > **[Hyperventilation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation)** > > Hyperventilation is irregular breathing that occurs when the rate or tidal volume of breathing eliminates more carbon dioxide than the body can produce. This leads to hypocapnia, a reduced concentration of carbon dioxide dissolved in the blood. The body normally attempts to compensate for this homeostatically, but if this fails or is overridden, the blood pH will rise, leading to respiratory alkalosis. The symptoms of respiratory alkalosis include dizziness, tingling in the lips, hands, Factor... ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-can-a-person-hyperventilate/487307/3 "2009-02-25T02:57:08Z")
wrong place