Stress and breathing/Breathing pattern disorder

A breathing pattern disorder is defined as hyperventilation or over-breathing that does not occur as a result of underlying pathology. Over-breathing is taken by the nervous system as a sign that the body is under stress, and causes the sympathetic nervous system to become engaged (this is true even if the original cause of the over-breathing was stress, and if that stress has subsided).

The effects of a breathing pattern disorder can have wide-ranging effects as attested to in this article by Leon Chaitow. The underlying cause of these effects is often undiagnosed.

Possible symptoms of breathing pattern disorder (Fritz, Grosenbach, 2004)
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Breath retraining : Helping your clients to correct their breathing pattern