It is estimated that about 800,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from hyperventilation. What can you do about it? Here are 4 solutions.
Asthma, diabetes and heart and lung diseases can cause hyperventilation. Yet hyperventilation often does not have a physical
cause, but a mental one. Anxiety, stress and fatigue are the biggest triggers. If you regularly suffer from a hyperventilation attack or if you are almost always short of breath (chronic hyperventilation), it is important that you know the underlying cause.
How to do it:
Instead of using tricks to regain control in an attack, tackle the source so that you don't get any attacks at all. Too much work pressure? Talk to your supervisor. Money worries? Enlist expert help. By reducing chronic stress and anxiety, you will also suffer less from hyperventilation.
Read also: 'The great anti-stress ABC'
With hyperventilation, your breathing is too fast and too deep. As a result, proportionally too much oxygen enters and too little carbon dioxide is exhaled. This can make you feel like you are choking and cause palpitations and dizziness. People with chronic hyperventilation always feel short of breath and experience a rushed feeling. Breathing exercises give you back control over your breathing.
How to do it:
Inhale for 3 seconds, wait 1 second and exhale for 4 to 6 seconds. This ensures that you breathe more calmly and that you exhale enough carbon dioxide. A breathing coach can also help you get your breathing under better control.
Anyone who has ever had a hyperventilation attack knows how scary it can be. The result may be that there is a fear of hyperventilation, ie fear of fear. Mindfulness is an effective way to reduce stress and anxiety. According to the American psychologist J. David Creswell, you notice a difference after three days if you meditate for 25 minutes every day.
How to do it:
For example, try staring for fifteen minutes:focus on one point and relax your facial muscles. Or take a walk through the forest and listen intently to all the sounds around you. There are also various mindfulness apps that can help you with this, such as the free Mindfulness Coach app from VGZ.
A special inhalation cassette against hyperventilation helps you to get your breathing back under control. Often just the thought that you have the device with you in your bag gives you enough peace of mind and confidence.
How to do it:
Breathe through the cassette. The device ensures that the ratio between oxygen and carbon dioxide is brought back into balance.
Text:Mara Ruijter
