:o
So why exactly is hyperventilating bad for you? If breathing is the exchange of CO[sub]2[/sub] for O[sub]2[/sub], then breathing faster would just make more O[sub]2[/sub] available, wouldn’t it?
But if I breathe too fast I get light-headed. What’s going on?
Carbon dioxide washout is what’s happening. The system needs a certain level of CO[sub]2[/sub] to operate normally. When it drops too low, one gets light-headed and tingly. Keep it up, and you will lose consciousness, breath more normally, and awaken after your CO[sub]2[/sub] level has risen again.
QtM, MD
You are quite correct that breathing results in an exchange of CO2 for O2, and that’s where the problem comes from. Not the excess O2, but the loss of CO2.
When you dissolve CO2 in water (eg your blood stream) some of it forms carbonic acid. The more CO2 the water has dissolved in it the more acid is formed up to a point.
Your body relies on carbonic acid to regulate the acidity of the entire bloodstream. By hyperventilating you remove far too much CO2 from your blood. The acidity of your bloodstream falls as a result. This has all sorts of nasty effects on your body if it is sustained, not least of which is an interference with nerve transmissions.
Kids in juvenile hall used to hyperventillate to get “high”. :smack:
I never understood why. I sure doesn’t feel good.
I wonder if there are any lasting (negative) effects.
Peace
mangeorge
The biggest risk of hyperventilation is passing out and cracking your head open, or some such damage.
Kids usually didn’t do it to feel good, but to feel different.
NEVER hyperventilate prior to a dive (snorkelling). As QtM has already pointed out, hyperventilation has the effect of getting rid of more CO2 than it does of increasing the amount of O2 in your bloodstream.
Because the trigger for the ‘urge to breathe’ is controlled by CO2 levels, and consciousness is determined by the level of O2, if you then hold your breath and dive, the CO2 level (now lower) may not rise enough to the level where you feel you should end the dive and surface for breath before you lose consciousness due to a lower partial pressure of oxygen.
One reason why blowing off too much CO[sub]2[/sub] makes you feel weird is that, as mentioned, it leads to the blood becoming too alkali (the pH goes too high).
When the blood pH is elevated, the blood proteins attempt to compensate by giving off their H[sup]+[/sup] 's (i.e. protons). This causes the blood pH to fall a bit (a good thing). However, the blood proteins would then carry a more negative charge than normal and that attracts calcium atoms (which are positively charged in the blood). So, the calcium gets bound to the proteins and the net effect is too little calcium left in a free, unbound-to-protein state. This hypocalcemia does indeed have an effect on nerve and brain cell function. Hypocalcemia, including that which results from hyperventilation, can cause tingling sensations, spasms of the muscles, and even convulsions.
Okay since the OP has been answered, but I don’t wanna start a new thread I’ll ask here.
Products such as EZ Whip (Whippits) are CO2 that is ment to be used for cooking, or inhailing a (small) cannister and getting a short buzz. Since you’re effectively inhailing CO2 with small amounts of Oxygen I assume that is what creates the buzz. What actually happens to one’s body when doing Whippits, and are they’re any real medical concerns from doing so?
As someone who likes the occasional Whippit, I’m interested.
Whippits are nitrous oxide, the same stuff you get at the dentist, not CO2.
I was under the impression that the Whippets people got high with contained nitrous oxide, which is a general anesthetic agent. I was unaware that any Whippets were made with CO2, or that you could get much of a buzz from them if they were.
Yes, I ment Nitrous rather than CO2. My goof. Maybe my question does belong in another thread.
Actually, whippets can contain either CO2 or N2O. Only the latter are used recreationally. N2O is not an anaesthetic, strictly speaking, but rather a dissociative. Unlike anaesthetics, narcotics, and analgesics, it does not prevent you from feeling pain so much as it makes you not care about it.
Just to hijack this thread even further, I often experience a brief moment of light-headedness after a sneeze. I always sneeze hard, too. Does this happen because I am breathing in too much O[sub]2[/sub] prior to the sneeze or expelling too much CO[sub]2[/sub] after the sneeze? I also experience this dizzy feeling if I have a sneeze that doesn’t completely execute (i.e. I breathe in and my nose tingles, but the sneeze never comes).
Interesting information here, thanks to everyone who’s contributing.
dwc1970, a hefty sneeze will raise your blood pressure momentarily. The dizziness you feel is akin to that you get if you stand up too quickly. I think.
Back to hyperventilating. Does the term refer to quick breathing or quick, shallow breathing? One problem with shallow breathing is that you may not be expelling all the dead air in your airways, resulting in little fresh air getting to your lungs, resulting in higher CO2 and lower O2 concentrations in the air in your lungs. Is that a factor in hyperventilation and its effects?
Hyperventilating refers to excess ventilation, that is too much gas being exchanged in the lungs. Shallow breathing doesn’t qualify. The effect of hyperventilation is due to reduced CO2 levels, not higher levels.
I assumed that the word referred to quick breathing (full breaths). For what it’s worth, that’s the meaning I intended to convey. Not that it matters – the answers in this thread have been very interesting.
Thanks to everyone who’s contributed.
I think it’s weird that the feeling of being light-headed for lack of oxygen seems to be the same as the feeling of being light-headed for basic/low-calcium blood. Que sera sera.