Hello (New member introduction)

[artaud]

...making our heart rate increase through stress and using our oxygen up quicker?

No, despite the feeling of issues with breathing, you probably have the normal amount of oxygen in your blood. It's more of a issue with interfering with the natural way you would normally breathe by paying attention to it. As I was sitting here just a little bit ago, I started to fall asleep. I could feel my breathing slowing, growing deeper, and I felt relaxed. When we're sleeping, we can't control our breathing, it's on auto pilot, and it goes back to normal. When we're awake and tense, we partially control the breathing, get everything out of sync, and we feel more tense or out of breath.

From the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"When you breathe, you breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Excessive breathing creates low levels of carbon dioxide in your blood. This causes many of the symptoms of hyperventilation.

If you frequently overbreathe, you may have hyperventilation syndrome that is triggered by emotions of stress, anxiety, depression, or anger. Occasional hyperventilation from panic is generally related to a specific fear or phobia, such as a fear of heights, dying, or closed-in spaces (claustrophobia).

If you have hyperventilation syndrome, you might not be aware you are breathing fast. However, you will be aware of having many of the other symptoms, including: (Edited: Afraid)

Confusion
Dizziness
Dry mouth
Lightheadedness
Muscle spasms in hands and feet
Numbness and tingling in the arms or around the mouth
Palpitations
Shortness of breath"