Have you ever wondered why your brain feels so foggy at times, you can’t concentrate or you feel dizzy and dopey? Or why you wake up feeling exhausted, like you haven’t slept at all or like you’ve been pushing a truck up hill all night?

If you snore, suffer from sleep apnoea, have asthma, cough or mouth-breathe a lot or have chronic anxiety, chances are you’re breathing enough for 2-3 people. Overbreathing upsets the natural balance between oxygen (O2)  and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood. Loss of CO2 through overbreathing causes smooth muscle to constrict around airways and blood vessels, reducing the availability of oxygen to the brain and body tissues. Anyone who has experienced dizziness after blowing up balloons or practising deep breathing in a fitness class, will be familiar with how quickly excessive breathing can deprive the brain of oxygen. The MRI scan below shows a 40% reduction in oxygen in the brain after one minute of over breathing. (Litchfield 1999)