A general question about irregular breathing.

[Rufus]

Recently, during a study of the respiratory system in my Biology II class, a student asked why emotional stress causes irregular breathing. Unable to find an answer we were satisfied with, we turned to the internet. After a good amount of search engine pages, we found a place where we could ask health doctors directly.

Thus, the question itself: Why does emotional stress cause irregular breathing?

[Health Dr. 1]

That is a good question, and there may not be one single answer that I am aware of. Of course, one of the biggest governing factors is the flight-or-fight adrenergic response. The limbic system communicates directly with the hypothalamus, and, via the hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis, epinephrine and norepinephrine are released. These activate the sympathetic receptors in the inspiratory muscles and cause more shallow and rapid breathing. The other factor is the motor nerves that innervate the diaphragm and other muscles for respiration. The vagus nerve in particular can have a direct affect on diaphragmatic control that is independent of voluntary pathways.



LIMBIC (EMOTIONAL) RESPIRATION
Limbic (emotional) respiration accounts for the preservation of respiratory modulation to emotional stimuli including laughing, coughing, and anxiety despite loss of voluntary control. This implies that descending limbic influences on automatic respiration are anatomically and functionally independent of the voluntary respiratory system. Munschauer et al described a patient with locked in syndrome due to infarction of the basal pons, this led to loss of voluntary control but carbon dioxide responses remained normal.23 This patient showed preserved respiratory modulation to emotional stimuli including coughing and anxiety and in another patient laughing.17 Such an independent descending pathway, mediating limbic control of respiration lies either in the pontine tegmentum or lateral basis pontis. Such limbic pathways are also suggested by the effect of limbic cortex stimulation and epileptic seizures.



The reality is that people do not always experience irregular breathing when they suffer from emotional stress. Most people probably associate the rapid, shallow breathing associated with sympathetic activation as being irregular. Keep in mind that they are probably not actually gearing up to “fight-or flight,” but their bodies are making all of the internal changes necessary for this. Irregular breathing could also be complicated by asthmatic complications, allergies, spinal misalignment (especially in the mid-thoracic area), and probably a number of other reasons.