Why Taking Deep Breaths Isn’t Helping You Relax

Perhaps you’re familiar with the feeling: physically exhausted, but mentally restless. “Tired and wired” as I like to call it, my body became accustomed to lying in bed as my mind churned. It was the same story, night after night. After a productive day, doing all the “right” things—eating clean, limiting caffeine, exercising, leaving work at work—it’s like the lightbulb in my head wouldn’t turn off.

As a yoga instructor, I was no stranger to the power of breathwork. To help my eager mind, I assumed that deep breathing would soothe my system and allow my mind to relax. Yet, sleep was still reluctant to come. Only upon delving into the counterintuive biochemistry of breathing did I come to recognize the inefficacy of the ubiquitous advice: "Just take a deep breath."

The problem with just taking a deep breath, is that a “deep breath” seems to mean something different for everyone. Some people with breathe in vigorously through the nose, and exhale out a sigh. Others will puff out the belly or rise the shoulders, and collapse on the exhale. On average, when cued to take a deep breath, people tend to breathe “bigger” than they normally would. Anatomically, “deep” is a direction, meaning closer into the body, as opposed to superficial, closer toward the surface. Understanding that, shouldn’t a “deep” breath be less superficial for the eyes to see?

To receive the benefits of a truly deep breath, we must first understand what’s happening to the body’s biochemistry when we breathe bigger than we ought to be.

Here’s a small but profound chemistry lesson: Nearly all of the oxygen being transported in our blood is bound to a protein called hemoglobin in our red blood cells[1]. But in order to make these oxygen molecules available for use by the body’s muscles, organs, and tissues, it needs to dissociate from hemoglobin. It’s through elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the blood that oxygen will dissociate from hemoglobin. This process is called the Bohr Effect, which explains how a rise in arterial CO2 causes a slight decrease in blood pH to make the blood more acidic, which triggers that oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation[2].

Okay, now that I know this, what does this have to do with taking a deep breath? Think about that stereotypical deep breath – where you might find yourself breathing more than you normally would at rest. That means you may be exhaling more carbon dioxide than normal. And if you exhale more CO2, you may not be accumulating enough in the blood to help release those oxygen molecules to be delivered throughout the body. Do this repeatedly, and the saturation of oxygen in your blood remains quite high, with little carbon dioxide to temper the energizing effects of oxygen. You may not realize it, but CO2 is actually a tranquilizing molecule, and the bigger and faster we breathe, the less we have of it[3].

Before the advent of pharmaceuticals to treat anxiety and panic disorder in the 1950s and 60s, doctors would commonly have patients breathe into a paper bag when experiencing symptoms or episodes. Why? Because this method would allow them to re-breathe the carbon dioxide they just breathed out, helping balance their biochemistry and receive the calming benefits of CO2.

When I learned all of this, I began to question if deep breathing, which exchanges more air, and offloads more CO2, would actually help me get to sleep. By sheer luck, I encountered a simple, counterintuitive, and incredibly reliable technique from the Oxygen Advantage®. Instead of big breathing, the Oxygen Advantage® promotes light breathing. They’ve coined an exercise called “Breathe Light” that instructs exactly what it sounds – breathing more subtly. Instead of big, deep belly breaths, this technique is focused on a small and gentle exchange of air, so light that the practitioner tires to not disturb the fine hairs inside the nostrils. Gradually, as the breath becomes light and silent, less CO2 is offloaded, more oxygen is delivered throughout the body, and a pervasive sensation of calm wanders throughout the body.

Breathe Light is now the exercise I use to fall asleep, and it works like a charm, helping me drift off without the need for external supplements. It has been empowering to know that I can be the manipulator of my own nervous system to help acutely activate my parasympathetic nervous system. When I think about it, in a sense, I am breathing deeply, profoundly targeting the cells in every nook and cranny of the body, with a subtle breath.

[1] Rhodes CE, Denault D, Varacallo M. Physiology, Oxygen Transport. [Updated 2022 Nov 14]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538336/

[2] Benner A, Patel AK, Singh K, et al. Physiology, Bohr Effect. [Updated 2023 Aug 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526028/

[3] Balestrino, M., & Somjen, G. G. (1988). Concentration of carbon dioxide, interstitial pH and synaptic transmission in hippocampal formation of the rat. The Journal of physiology, 396, 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1988.sp016961

Huttunen, J., Tolvanen, H., Heinonen, E., Voipio, J., Wikström, H., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Hari, R., & Kaila, K. (1999). Effects of voluntary hyperventilation on cortical sensory responses. Electroencephalographic and magnetoencephalographic studies. Experimental brain research, 125(3), 248–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210050680