forcing self to breath??

Does anyone ever feel as if they have to force yourself to breath? Or if you don't you will stop breathing ??

Hi AF,

Yeah sometimes....my therapist pointed out I was holding my breath all the time and that's what was making me panicking and adding to the anxiety. Then I worried about deep breathing for days and days on end, deep breathing so much I would be falling asleep at 2PM at the office and my mind was just tired from concentrating on my breathing.

Then I took a vacation and got away to the beach, it got my mind off all the stuff and I figured hey its a normal human response to breathe, I will do it whether or not I'm thinking about it. But it did take me 3-4 days of practicing deep breathing to make it a habit and get out of the shallow chest breathing.

It is the first major change I made to combat my anxiety and it helped so much to get my brain out of an oxygen-starved fog. It's amazing what you body can do on its own!

Every now and then I catch myself shallow chest breathing, or holding my breath when I'm thinking intensively about something but then I just do a few quick practices of deep breathing and its all good again.

I know its hard to not think about it, but you have to do just that. Try getting away for the weekend to one of your favorite places, let your mind go with happy thoughts of just enjoying the moment...

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Joshua

Yes, I have experienced this. I am becoming more aware of when I am breathing incorrectly because I get lightheaded and dizzy. Actually experienced this just a little while ago. I was terrified and so I sat back in my chair, closed my eyes and took some big deep breathes and automatically felt somewhat better. I also tend to hold my breath or speak long sentences on short breathes quickly and it has the same effect on me. Take some deep breathes, try to relax and your body naturally breathes.