Bad breathing as a co-factor or direct cause of the majority causes aside from prescription drugs, food, and air-borne allergies or physical trauma-based headaches. How good is YOUR breathing?
Headaches: Bad Breathing As a Co-Factor Or Direct Cause?
Headaches are one of the leading causes of missed work and school. Absenteeism, lost productivity, and medical expenses cost the U.S. industry some $50 billion a year.
Doctors often don't have the time necessary to assess the headache. It is often a very good idea to do a complete physical exam and assess the pain, its frequency and location, other symptoms, and possible contributing factors, which may include food allergies and toxic chemicals.
Aside from trauma and poisons, headaches can stem from numerous causes, including stress, eyestrain, hunger, fever, underlying infections or illnesses, or blood vessel disturbances in the head. Also, muscle tension in the neck, head, back, or shoulders is usually due to fatigue or stress. Infections of the ears, mouth, or sinuses; high blood pressure; glaucoma; allergies; brain tumors or abscesses; some drugs and various foods; and QUITE often, bad breathing.
Most of the suspects, such as MSG, an often allergenic food additive, chocolate, ripe cheeses, and freshly baked yeast products, contain a naturally occurring chemical called tyramine, which may constrict blood vessels in the brain.
Some headaches are a sign of a serious medical condition. The headache council recommends you contact your doctor if:
Your headache is accompanied by a stiff neck, fever, shortness of breath, dizziness, drowsiness, severe vomiting, unsteadiness, weakness, slurred speech, numbness, tingling, or unexpected symptoms affecting your eyes, ears, nose, or throat.
- You have three or more headaches a week.
- You take a pain reliever daily or almost daily.
- You take more than the recommended doses of over-the-counter medications.
- Your headaches are triggered by exertion, coughing, bending, or sex.
- Your headache keeps worsening and won't go away.
- Your headaches began after age 50.
- Your headaches began after a head injury.
Any of the above implies possible UDB or more clearly stated, insufficiently developed and balanced breathing mechanics, patterning, and coordination.
Yawning
Yawning may be a sign you’re fatigued and oxygen-deprived. When you’re tired, under stress, and sitting for too long, shallow breathing limits your oxygen supply. Consequently, a yawn brings in a deep breath of air in an instant. Yawning may also be a sign that an oxygen-deprivation headache is imminent. It can also be when you simply need to balance the CO2/O2 relationship. I have seen people in my sessions yawn as their breathing improved and got deeper and easier; they were energized, not sleepy.
Snoring and sleep apnoea are associated with morning headaches. If you snore heavily or wake with headaches, that's worth raising with your doctor. In these cases, O2 from an oxygen source may cut short the beginning of a shallow breathing headache.
High-flow oxygen is an established acute treatment for cluster headache: in a randomised trial published in JAMA (Cohen et al., 2009), 78% of attacks treated with 100% oxygen at 12 litres per minute were pain-free within 15 minutes. That is a clinical treatment used under medical supervision, and it is not the same as EWOT.
Disrupted breathing during sleep is associated with morning headaches, though headaches have many causes and most are unrelated to breathing. High chest breathing pattern is another strong creator of headaches. That is why relief from head pain may be only a few breaths away.
Oxygen is the most vital element you need to live. Without air, we die fairly quickly. Indeed, life begins with a breath and a cry and ends with a final exhalation. But most rarely fill our lungs and instead shallow-breathe or breathe too fast and high chest.
- Things to help stave off oxygen deprivation headaches:
- Keep your work, social, and sleep areas well-ventilated.
- Sleep on a pillow that is not too fluffy, and don’t let it cover your nose when you sleep.
- Sleep on your back or side.
- Use SinuPower to help prevent obstructed breathing while sleeping.
- Make it a habit to take about a dozen slow, deep breaths each hour or as often as possible.
- Eat a mucus-free diet (avoid dairy and processed foods), which reduces phlegm.
- Control humidity to below 45% or less to 30%
Breathing Development
Slow breathing is relaxing, and many people find it helps with tension. Whether it prevents headaches hasn't been established, and they help you feel good about your health. So relax, breathe deeply, and enjoy your expanded health horizons.
The shortcoming of these methods is that they treat headache symptoms after they have occurred rather than preventing them from arising in the first place. But the more you train your breathing to be in balance the less your headaches may occur.
Blood vessel constriction from stress, muscle tension, unbalanced deep breathing, and high blood pressure causing headaches can often be offset actively by breathing in a certain way to stimulate a balanced, deeper relaxation response. If this exercise works even a little, then we suggest you develop your breathing to make that calming action stronger and more dependable.
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