What is Hyperventilation?
Hyperventilation or overbreathing is the state of breathing faster than normal at rest (normal minute ventilation is generally 5-8 liters of air per minute at rest for a 70-kg man).
What causes the effect of Hyperventilation?
Counterintuitively, such effects are not precipitated by the sufferer's lack of oxygen or air. Rather, the hyperventilation itself reduces the carbon dioxide concentration of the blood to below its normal level because one is expiring more carbon dioxide than being produced in the body, thereby raising the blood's pH value (making it more alkaline). This causes constriction of the blood vessels which supply the brain, and preventing the transport of oxygen and other molecules necessary for the function of the nervous system.
Counterintuitively, such effects are not precipitated by the sufferer's lack of oxygen or air. Rather, the hyperventilation itself reduces the carbon dioxide concentration of the blood to below its normal level because one is expiring more carbon dioxide than being produced in the body, thereby raising the blood's pH value (making it more alkaline). This causes constriction of the blood vessels which supply the brain, and preventing the transport of oxygen and other molecules necessary for the function of the nervous system.
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The high pH value resulting from hyperventilation also reduces the level of available calcium, which affects the nerves and muscles, causing constriction of blood vessels and tingling.
Hyperventilation can be useful in the management of cerebral compression. Hyperventilation, and the resultant cerebral vasoconstriction, is useful in this situation, since it decreases the volume of blood in the brain. Less blood volume in the cranial cavity results in less pressure compressing the brain. However, this comes at the cost of reducing blood flow to the brain, which can potentially result in brain damage.
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