Anxiety is a strange physiological state that many people do not fully understand. It has ancient roots and we have evolved with the anxiety response known as the 'fight or flight' reflex, which prepares us to run from or fight a threat to our survival. So how does this physiological response cause the short of breath anxiety symptom in sufferers?

The fight or flight reflex is firstly triggered by thought. We need to think we are in mortal danger in order for the response to begin. Unfortunately we still have this response within our physiology and our bodies confuse our feelings of stress and worry with us being in a life threatening situation. So, once the thought is in place our body releases adrenaline, a hormone which prepares our body for high levels of exercise and quick responses. In other words, more than ever we are ready to fight a threat or run very fast from it when we are full of adrenaline.

Adrenaline causes our heart to beat faster in order to get blood to the organs that work hard during such exercise. To get our blood oxygenated we need to breathe heavily and deeply and adrenaline encourages us to do this too. However, since modern day stresses and worries rarely require of us any extreme exercise, we don't actually ever breathe deeply or need the blood that is pumping through our circulatory systems so fast. As a result, we try to calm our breathing by taking shorter, shallower breaths to try and match our physical state. As we get more worried our body continues to produce adrenaline and our respiratory system gets more out of synchronization with what our body is telling us we need to do.

With this in mind, the short of breath anxiety symptom may seem a little strange; surely hyperventilation would be more appropriate here? If you ask 100 anxiety attack sufferers you will likely find a big group who do hyperventilate. However, the majority try so hard to get their respiratory system back in equilibrium with the rest of their body that they don't breathe enough and the whole system goes into confusion. Here, we feel the classic anxiety symptom of being suffocated; we can't breathe but we desperately need to. Many people feel their chest or throat is tight as well.

The number one thing that you should remember when you experience the short of breath anxiety attack symptom is that your body is not shutting down and you simply will not die. The absolute worst that will happen is that you lose consciousness, but if you do then your worries and anxieties are no longer present to fuel the panic and your body breathes naturally and at the relevant rate.

The best thing to do in that moment is try to calm yourself as much as possible; breathe out to the end of your breath, breathe in again slowly and then suddenly, sharply and deeply breathe out to the end of your breath again. With this exercise you should find your breath is restored to equilibrium and you are able to relax.

Stan Tian

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