STRESS CAN CAUSE SHORTNESS OF BREATH

Stress Can Cause Shortness of Breath

Spread the love

 

Stress can affect various functions of our body, including causing shortness of breath even if you do not suffer from respiratory disorders. In fact, some of them experience severe shortness of breath when in a state of stress.

 

Stress Can Cause Shortness of Breath

 

With all the things going on these days with coronavirus, the isolation, shortages, the news, we have got too much in our mind. Our brain is flooded with too much information. Some people may experience shortness of breath, not due to coronavirus but because of the amount of stress they have. So, what causes this? Let’s find out more.

 

How can stress affect your breathing?

Generally when people talk about health, they often separate mental and physical health, as if an individual does not correlate directly with another. In fact, your mind and body don’t just coexist, they are a unit. This means that when your mental health suffers, chances are, your physical health too, and vice versa.

For example, if you have studied as hard as possible for an exam, and you still don’t understand the material, your mind starts to race. It almost feels like your breath is halting. How negative thoughts can have serious effects on your physical body.

When you experience mental stress, your body will experience tension. And that is affected by how you breathe.

 

The relationship between stress and shortness of breath

When faced with situations that trigger stress, your brain is in a fight or flight position (fight or run). The hypothalamus in the brain, the part that stimulates hormone production, then sends signals to the adrenal glands to release cortisol and adrenaline.

Both of these hormones enhance various bodily functions, including heart rate to increase blood flow to important organs. Your breathing rate will also increase dramatically to meet the needs of oxygen throughout the body quickly.

This mechanism is actually useful for preparing the body in response to danger. But at the same time, stress hormones can narrow the muscles of the respiratory tract and blood vessels.

Breathing also becomes ineffective because you unconsciously breathe short and fast, not slowly and deeply as in normal conditions. All of these changes eventually make you short of breath when experiencing stress.

Apart from stress, you can also experience difficulty breathing when you feel panic, anxiety, nervousness, or even sadness. All three of these conditions trigger the same hormonal reaction so that their effects are similar in your body.

 

Is shortness of breath when stressed dangerous?

Stress is the body’s natural response when dealing with tense problems or situations. Short stress can even help you take action quickly in a crisis situation.

Shortness of breath and other symptoms that you experience will gradually improve once the stressors disappear. As long as it only appears occasionally, shortness of breath when stressed is not a health disorder to worry about.

The new situation is different if you experience constant stress, or also known as chronic stress. This condition is characterized by symptoms of stress that do not get better, or you always experience it every day.

In contrast to short-term stress, chronic stress can cause problems for physical or psychological health. In addition to shortness of breath, you may experience chronic stress if you have the following symptoms:

⦁ Excessive anxiety and nervousness

⦁ Easy to get angry

⦁ Fatigue

⦁ Difficulty concentrating

⦁ Rapid or disorganized thoughts

⦁ Headache

⦁ Insomnia

Shortness of breath due to stress can also be dangerous if experienced by people suffering from respiratory diseases. Especially asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The reason is, this condition will worsen the symptoms of existing diseases.

 

How to deal with shortness of breath when stressed

Stress and shortness of breath that accompany it can not be prevented, but you can try to relieve it with simple relaxation techniques. When stress starts to strike, find a quiet place to relax yourself.

Then, follow the steps as follows:

⦁ Tighten your body muscles, then let it relax again.

⦁ Imagine your muscles relax slowly and your body begins to feel heavy.

⦁ Clear your mind of all thoughts.

⦁ Let your body relax more and more.

⦁ Try to feel the absence of noise around you.

⦁ Once the relaxation time is almost over, regain your awareness by moving your hands and feet. Stretch your body, then move back as usual.

There are many ways you can do if you experience difficulty breathing due to stress suddenly. As stated earlier, when you are stressed you will start breathing through the chest. To overcome this, you need to consciously regulate your breathing and do deep breathing exercise.

Expand this exercise by counting six to 10 times for 10 minutes. This will reduce the speed of your heart rate by 15 to 20 beats per minute. And at the same time, it will reduce your breathing rate by 20 to 30 percent. If you have time, continue this breathing exercise for 20 minutes or more in one day.

 

Bottom Line

Stress can cause shortness of breath. Shortness of breath when you are stressed is triggered by the influence of the hormones cortisol and adrenaline in your body. This is a normal condition that will improve by itself. You also do not need to feel anxious during shortness of breath that occurs occasionally. Try to remain calm.

However, you should consult with your doctor if shortness of breath persists or worsens the symptoms of respiratory illness that you are suffering from. Further tests will help you find the right treatment.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off purchases, at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure hereThank you for supporting the work I put on this site!

Spring Sale!
Brain Fitness Tool to Help You Learn to Stay Focused, Calm and Manage Stress

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

We Stress Free does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. However, if you need someone to talk to and want to make friends, please feel free to reach me at ferra@westressfree.com. If you would like to REDUCE your STRESS and are interested to do an ONLINE THERAPY, you can do so here.

 

Try this Online therapy to Reduce Stress

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

 

Thank you for reading today’s topic: Stress Can Cause Shortness of Breath

22 thoughts on “Stress Can Cause Shortness of Breath

  1. finding a good article does not come by easily so i must commend your effort in creating such a beautiful website and bringing up an article to help others with good information like this. i experienced shortage of breathe about 3 weeks ago and it was due to stress. i now understand fully what happened

    1. Hello Benny,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  2. Hello Ferra, thank you so much for this wonderful post here. . I never knew that stress can e a cause of  shortness of breath but it’s good because we learn new stuff everyday. We see the that the world health organisation has stated that we can check if we could have the earliest forms of Corona virus bumy taking a breath test. Most people who might be overly stressed might fail the test and think they have the virus. I have to share this to make people understand that there might be a different underlying cause. Nice post.

    1. Hello Henderson,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  3. Hi thanks for sharing this article.Stress can affect various functions of our body, including causing shortness of breath even if you do not suffer from respiratory disorders. In fact, some of them experience severe shortness of breath when in a state of stress.i had an experience,was working for two days without rest,and was having shortness of breath, although I was scared but the doctor said I just need some rest.

    1. Hello Joy,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  4. Hey, I learn a lot while reading your guide on stress cause and find it very helpful for everyone. Now I know that Stress can affect various functions of our body, including causing shortness of breath. This is a normal condition that will improve by itself. You also do not need to feel anxious during shortness of breath that occurs occasionally. Thanks for sharing such useful info. 

    1. Hello Parveen,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  5. First of all thank you so much for sharing such an excellent article with us. Your article is really informative and I gained a lot of knowledge by reading your article which is very helpful to me .Stress affects various activities in my body. Stress can cause breathing problems .I experienced pain in my chest a few days ago on stress, as well as severe breathing and I recovered from my doctor’s refuge. Stress is increased if there is not enough sleep so I exercise regularly at the present time as well as get enough sleep.

    Your article really matters a lot. So I will be reaching out your article to my friends and they will definitely share with you their new experience by following the tips you give.Can I share your article on my social media?

    1. Hello Shanta,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      Yes, of course. You are welcome to share the post on your social media. Thank you for doing so, I appreciate it.

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  6. Thank you so much for sharing such a great article among us. Here you have discussed in detail Stress and Breath Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment. I learned everything about the shortness of breath from this post. Now I know better about the shortness of breath. Thanks for presenting beautifully. What effects anxiety can have on a person’s life is beautifully highlighted. people with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. I think this article is useful for people.
    Lastly, I would like to share this post on my social media so everyone can know about the shortness of breath. Thanks

    1. Hello Tanvir,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      As usual, sharing is caring. Thank you in advance for sharing this post to your family and friends. 🙂

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  7. Stress is a natural physical and mental reaction to life experiences. Everyone expresses stress from time to time. Anything from everyday responsibilities like work and family to serious life events such as a new diagnosis, war, or the death of a loved one can trigger stress. For immediate, short-term situations, stress can be beneficial to your health. It can help you cope with potentially serious situations.
    But for something good like stress there is always a more bad and deadly recidue……. Stress hormones affect your respiratory and cardiovascular systems. During the stress response, you breathe faster in an effort to quickly distribute oxygen-rich blood to your body. If you already have a breathing problem like asthma or emphysema, stress can make it even harder to breathe.

    1. Hi David,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words in your comment! 😃 👍

      Glad to know that you enjoyed reading the post and you found it useful.

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!

      Cheers, 

      Ferra 💕

  8. your post relates to what happened to my daughters few days ago, when after having to go to school to collect information for her online classes, she started to feel shortness of breath and immediately thought it was a sign of coronavirus.
    I think your post is very useful during this difficult time where we are praying not to have any symptoms of coronavirus. Well done! Mirlay

    1. Hello Mirlay,
      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read the post and leave a comment. I really appreciate it!

      I hope your daughter feels better now.
      Yes, we need to differentiate the symptoms of shortness of breath caused by stress or panic and if it is caused by coronavirus. In this situation, it is important for us not to panic. We need to do the test ourselves first. If there’s no fever, then should be fine.

      Once again thank you for your comment.
      Stay safe, happy and healthy!
      Cheers,
      Ferra

  9. This is a timely post especially with the uncertainties that the coronavirus is bringing upon everyone around the world. Personally, I try to remain calm and positive in any situation but naturally, there are times when I need to remind myself to pause, step back and relax which include taking deep breaths and relaxing the whole body. Shortness of breath as you said can be the body’s way of dealing with stress and I appreciate the tips given to deal with shortness of breath due to stress. Everyone should read and learn from this post.

    1. Hi Geri,
      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read the post and leave a comment. I really appreciate it!

      It is great that you know what to do when things seem to be bad and you don’t let yourself to panic and feel stressed out. Remaining calm and staying positive are definitely important during this difficult situation. I hope things will get better soon. For now, stay safe, healthy and happy at home. 🙂
      Cheers,
      Ferra

    1. Hi Jim-Kelly,
      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate it! 😃
      Glad to know you found this post useful.👍

      Stay safe, happy and healthy!
      Cheers,
      Ferra 💕

  10. The fact that i have come to learn something tangible from this post is satisfying. The make of your website is nice and the simplicity of the color selection makes it beautiful. there is usually a limit to how a do things and the stress i can take. knowing this helps me control my work rate and keeps me healthy

    1. Hi there,

      Thank you for taking time to visit my site, read my post and leave a comment. I really appreciate your kind words about my website! I know I still have so much to learn in building it to create better experience to my readers but I am up to the challenge. 😃 

      Stay safe, happy and healthy. 👍

      Ferra 💕

Leave a Reply to Ferra Spencer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *