# what good does breathing into a bag do?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 2, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825 "2008-03-02T06:43:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825/21 "2008-03-03T02:24:27Z")

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I knew there had to be a logical reason, but no one could really explain it to me when I took Red Cross training (the instructor kept stepping out of class for cigarette breaks.)

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**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825/22 "2008-03-03T05:54:45Z")

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[QUOTE=ivylass]  
Can I ask a related question relating to mouth to mouth resuscitation? I always wondered, if someone is not breathing, how breathing carbon dioxide into them via mouth to mouth was helping. Wouldn’t they need oxygen? Or are you just trying to keep their lungs inflated? 😕  
[/QUOTE]

Expired air contains 16% oxygen (versus 21% for atmospheric air) [From Emergency Care & Transportation of the Sick & Injured](http://books.google.com/books?id=xAPuKkKA6FEC&pg=PT139&lpg=PT139&dq=exhaled+air+16+oxygen&source=web&ots=SMZJerFy6H&sig=2fEoH4cUT5CWekBV-IwG_Pr50JU&hl=en)

I’d also like to add that the new [American Heart Association CPR guidelines](http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/112/24_suppl/IV-12) no longer recommend rescue breathing during CPR by lay rescuers. It’s much more important to have good, uninterrupted compressions.

> [@American Heart Association](#):
>
> Lay rescuers will not be taught to provide rescue breathing without chest compressions.

St. Urho  
Paramedic

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**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825/23 "2008-03-05T01:33:44Z")

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So how does the bag help with hick ups?

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**Author:** ![hotcoldhot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@hotcoldhot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotcoldhot)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-good-does-breathing-into-a-bag-do/439825/24 "2008-03-05T01:38:17Z")

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My brother used to have panic attacks and he’d overbreathe, he found he could do simply cup his hands over his mouth and get the same effect as a paper bag, or simply shut his mouth tight. He found it nearly impossible to over breathe through his nose.

Just in case you don’t have access to a paper bag.

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