Nexusowls t1_iy2r0o4 wrote
Reply to comment by deep_sea2 in Eli5: Old Three Stooges episodes show people occasionally breathing into paper bags as some sort of remedy for emergency situations involving stress or trauma… what was the belief then and what do we now know better about the practice? by coffeygrande
Why does the blood alkalinity matter? Isn’t it just the over saturation of O2 that causes issues?
hiricinee t1_iy2rgm2 wrote
IT is NOT the over saturation of O2. Theres a relative plateau you reach as you hyperventilate in terms of how much O2 you can accumulate (and its pretty close to what you live at normally) but your body is able to blow off a tremendous amount of CO2, which is an acidic compound. As you blow it off your blood becomes more alkaline, which causes some temporary problems-- dizziness, weakness, more anxiety, and carpopedal spasms. If you ever see someone in a BAD panic attack they will sometimes feel cramping in the feet and hands, or even contract the muscles in their feet and hands. It tends to make them panic more and slowing down their breathing is pretty much the only way to turn it around.
Divers actually take advantage of this sometimes, they hyperventilate before a dive to suppress their respiratory drive by blowing off CO2, but it can be kind of a risky technique because your oxygen level doesnt really rise that much.
O2 toxicity tends to only happen with overdelivery of oxygen, on room air its pretty difficult to accomplish.
rubseb t1_iy2tfyl wrote
No. Over-saturation of O2, i.e. hyperoxia, certainly isn't healthy but the symptoms aren't as acute, and the partial pressure of oxygen in normal air simply isn't high enough to cause oxygen toxicity (at sea level pO2 is about 21 kPa and toxicity only occurs above 30 kPa). That is, no matter how fast you breathe, in normal air you can never raise your blood oxygen to toxic levels.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments