The Hidden Problem with Breathwork
Blood Chemistry Isn’t a Toy
Breathwork might feel like a shortcut to transcendence — tingling fingers, lightheadedness, a rush that seems profound. But those sensations aren’t mystical. They’re chemical. What you’re really experiencing is a shift in blood chemistry as CO₂ is blown off and pH is pushed out of balance.
That’s the hidden problem. Blood chemistry isn’t a toy. It’s the foundation of nerve stability, muscle function, and circulation. Push it around for a thrill often enough, and you pay for it later — in anxiety, bone loss, kidney strain, and a nervous system that never quite finds its balance again.
Born with a Baseline
We’re all born with a baseline breathing pattern, set by our mother’s chemistry in pregnancy — determined by many known and unknown factors including: her blood pH, her iron levels, her balance of muscle to body weight, even her age. That starting point leaves its mark. It’s why even siblings can enter the world with very different breathing rates and rhythms.
For most of human history, calibration came naturally after birth. Hunting, carrying, feeding, surviving — our bodies tuned themselves to the environment. Breath was intuitive because it had to be. We lived close enough to physiology to notice its details. If we butchered an animal, we could tell if it had died in fight-or-flight by the position of its diaphragm and the taste of its flesh. Breath was life, not performance.
From Calibration to Toys
Now that connection is lost. We don’t rely on our bodies for survival in the same way, so breath no longer calibrates itself. Instead, breath has become a toy. Wim Hof ice baths, competitive long exhales, forced manipulations — impressive on the surface, but essentially tinkering with a system that once regulated itself seamlessly.
The result? Strange adaptations: swimmers with hyperinflated lungs, singers driven into high fast breathing patterns that collapse later, nervous systems locked into overdrive and anxiety.
Keep Practice in Perspective
Through over-breathing, blood flow is pushed out toward the skin. Yes, it can make you feel flushed or “oxygenated” in the moment, but as a baseline it’s damaging — dry skin, irritation, and deeper tissues left under-supplied. Practices that stress the system can be useful, but only as occasional training, not as a way of life.
This is where the Bohr effect comes in: oxygen delivery depends on gradients and pressure, not on “more breath.” A minute or two of practice can build resilience. Living there will train dysfunction.
The Gold We’ve Misplaced
Breath doesn’t need to be gamed. It needs calibration. Quiet nasal breathing, steady rhythm, gentle practice. That’s the gold most of us are missing.
I’ve written about that physiology here:
I-O-Way Fast Dancer's Breath and Composure
About the Author:
Catherine Broué is a systems physiologist. After two decades in ICU and dialysis, she turned to the deeper question of real health, guided by mentors and the insights of Bohr and Buteyko. Her work centres on the body’s true regulators — breath and the central nervous system — and the return to parasympathetic dominance.