1. The international medical and physiological norm for breathing at rest (for a 70-kg man) corresponds to the following parameters:
– 6 liters of air per one minute for minute ventilation
– 12 breaths per minute for breathing frequency
– 500 ml for tidal volume (amount of air for one breath)
– 98% oxygen saturation for the arterial blood
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– 40 seconds for stress-free breath holding time (done after usual exhalation and without any stress during and after the test).
2. Stress-free breath holding time after usual exhalation is the most accurate DIY test for breathing and body oxygenation since one cannot evaluate their respiratory frequency (it immediately changes, once we pay attention to our breathing).
3. Ordinary modern people breathe about 12 liters/min at rest (tens of published physiological studies) or about 2 times more than the above-mentioned medical norm established about 100 years ago. We used to breathe much less a century ago.
4. Mildly sick people breathe about 12-18 liters/min or about 2-3 times more than the medical norm (tens of published medical studies), while their body oxygenation is below the norm and stress-free breath holding time after usual exhalation is less than 20 s.
5. Severely sick, critically ill, and hospitalized patients have even heavier breathing and even less oxygen in their bodies (less than 10 s for the breath holding time test).
6. When we breathe more than the medical norm (it is called hyperventilation or overbreathing), we do not increase oxygenation of the arterial blood since it is about 98% saturated with oxygen during miniscule normal breathing. Therefore, the main effect of hyperventilation is excessive removal of CO2 or CO2-deficiency in blood and cells. CO2 deficiency causes constriction of blood arteries and arterioles (CO2 is a powerful vasodilator) and the suppressed Bohr effect (reduced release of oxygen by red blood cells in tissues due to reduced CO2 concentrations). As a result, all vital organs (including, the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, large and small colons, stomach, spleen, etc.) get less blood and oxygen supply.