30/07/2025
𝓢𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓐𝓶𝓲𝓭𝓼𝓽 𝓐𝓫𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮: 𝓕𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓦𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓓𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓐𝓲𝓻
Your mind is the greatest trickster of all time. Doesn't it baffle you how easily you can misunderstand and confuse things even when you feel like you understand them?
One of the brain's greatest tricks is conning you into believing that you are out of breath when you hyperventilate. In reality, it's quite the opposite. Behind the veil of misconception, what actually happens is this: during hyperventilation, you may feel like no amount of air could satisfy your need for it — when you're actually suffocating from it. From a scientific lens, hyperventilation occurs when a person breathes too fast or too deeply. This physiological condition often happens during panic, anxiety, or stress. And if we were to dissect its explanation, it would be due to breathing out too much carbon dioxide, which lowers CO₂ levels in the blood and disrupts the body’s balance — not because of a lack of oxygen, but because of too little carbon dioxide.
As a result, a person may feel dizziness, chest tightness or discomfort, blurred vision, muscle cramps, palpitations, and shortness of breath — ironically so. These aforementioned symptoms can be mitigated by keeping your cool and refusing to give in to the screaming anxiety and panic of your entire system. Panic makes you breathe even faster, thus creating a cycle.
Due to the inevitability of life, and when push comes to shove, just remember to breathe in through the nose, then out through the mouth. Additionally, a paper bag might just save the day when hyperventilation is the villain. Just do the aforementioned method: breathe in through your nose, then out through your mouth — however, this time, cover your mouth and nose with the paper bag. Why? Because breathing into a paper bag lets you rebreathe some of that CO₂, helping to restore the balance in your blood.
So, you see, your mind really is the greatest trickster of all time. The common misconception that surrounds hyperventilation is definite proof of that. Because while your mind gasps for air, your entire body screeches codes of help for refusal.
Engrave in your souls that it should always be mind over matter. Remain calm and cool-headed during hyperventilation, and your body will eventually return to internal equilibrium.
✍🏻: Daphne Jill P. Alferez
🎨: Isabel Olee De Joya
