Finding oneself breathless without the prelude of physical strain is a peculiar and distressing sensation that is intimately familiar to those who suffer from anxiety and panic disorders, as indicated by new insights from the University of Cincinnati's Jeffrey Strawn, who spoke with VeryWell Mind about the complexities of "air hunger." Strawn, who holds the status of MD and serves as a professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and doubles as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UC Health, articulated that this phenomenon manifests as a choking feeling, "even though they are not physically exerting themselves."
The term, as nebulous as it sounds, describes a specific type of distress, with some calling it akin to "breathing through a straw" or describing sensations of constricted chests, according to the University of Cincinnati News. These are symptoms that Strawn's expertise ties to the intricacies of the autonomic nervous system, the unseen force behind our primal fight-or-flight impulses, and dysregulation of interoception—the intrinsic awareness of internal bodily sensations such as heartbeat and respiration that, when skewed, can send individuals tumbling into a panicked state upon sensing the most benign shifts within their bodies.
It is within this misinterpretation of normal physiological sensations as harbingers of peril that lies the harrowing crux of air hunger. Strawn pinpointed that “the brain may misinterpret normal physiological sensations as dangerous," a condition that serves as fertile ground for anxiety to morph into a catalyst for panic, increasing the individual's past, present, and future encounters with the condition. Strawn's conversation with VeryWell Mind sheds light on this cruel cycle, noting a worrisome sensitivity that "may cause individuals to overreact to normal benign changes in breathing or heart rate, which can in turn, trigger or worsen panic." According to the University of Cincinnati's News.
When the instinct to gasp for air strikes as panic sets its cold fingers around the mind, it may seem the only logical reaction, yet counterintuitive wisdom suggests that a slower approach may serve one better in the long run. Strawn suggests that decelerating one's breath, contrary to the immediate urge, is an effective technique to ward off the specter of air hunger, as elucidated in his discussion with VeryWell Mind, thereby offering a strand of hope for those ensnared by the invisible tethers of panic and anxiety.
