Breathing: Is Your Unconscious Pattern Helping or Hindering Your Symptoms?

Breathing is something we do automatically, every moment of every day. Because it happens without conscious effort, most of us rarely question how we breathe—only that we do. But what if the way you breathe, both during the day and while you sleep, is quietly influencing your symptoms, your nervous system, and your overall health?

For individuals living with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), long COVID, or fibromyalgia, this question becomes particularly important. These conditions are often complex, involving dysregulation of the nervous system, persistent fatigue, breathlessness, and a heightened stress response. While breathing may seem like a simple or even trivial factor, it can play a surprisingly powerful role in either supporting recovery or perpetuating symptoms.

The Overlooked Habit: Mouth vs Nasal Breathing

Many people are unaware that they regularly breathe through their mouths, especially at night, but often during the day as well. Mouth breathing can become habitual due to factors like nasal congestion, stress, poor posture, or simply learned patterns over time.

However, breathing through the mouth bypasses several important physiological processes that occur when we breathe through the nose. Nasal breathing helps to:

• Filter and humidify the air

• Regulate airflow and resistance

• Support optimal oxygen uptake

• Promote nitric oxide production, which aids circulation and immune function

  
  

When we default to mouth breathing, particularly over long periods, it can disrupt these processes and place the body in a more stressed, less efficient state.

Breathing and the Nervous System

One of the most important connections to understand is how breathing influences the nervous system.

Your body operates through two main branches of the autonomic nervous system:

• The sympathetic nervous system (often described as “fight or flight”)

• The parasympathetic nervous system (“rest and digest”)

  
  

For many people with CFS, long COVID, or fibromyalgia, there is a tendency toward sympathetic overdrive, a state where the body is constantly on high alert. This can show up as:

• Persistent fatigue despite rest

• Anxiety or inner tension

• Poor sleep quality

• Sensitivity to exertion

• Heart rate irregularities or palpitations

  
  

Breathing patterns play a key role here. Fast, shallow, or mouth-based breathing signals to the brain that the body is under threat. Over time, this reinforces the “fight or flight” response, even when there is no immediate danger.

In contrast, slow, controlled nasal breathing can help activate the parasympathetic system, sending a signal of safety and allowing the body to rest, repair, and recover.

Signs Your Breathing Pattern May Be Hindering You

Because breathing is automatic, dysfunctional patterns can go unnoticed for years. However, there are some common signs that your breathing may be contributing to your symptoms:

1. Difficulty maintaining nasal breathing while awake.

If you find yourself frequently switching to mouth breathing during normal daily activities, this may indicate an underlying pattern of over-breathing or poor tolerance to carbon dioxide.

2. Noisy, heavy, or mouth breathing during sleep

Snoring, waking with a dry mouth, or being told you breathe heavily at night are strong indicators that your breathing may be suboptimal during sleep when recovery should be happening.

3. Feeling breathless too quickly during movement

If light activity leaves you unusually short of breath, it may not just be deconditioning. Inefficient breathing can reduce oxygen delivery and increase the sensation of effort.

4. Anxiety, air hunger, or feeling like your breathing is never fully under control

This is a common and distressing experience. Ironically, it is often linked not to a lack of oxygen, but to breathing too much or too rapidly, which disrupts the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body.

5. A low comfortable breath-hold time (less than 25 seconds)

Your breath-hold time is a useful indicator of how well your body tolerates carbon dioxide. A low score can suggest chronic over-breathing and a sensitised respiratory system.

Understanding “Air Hunger” and Over-Breathing

One of the most confusing sensations people report is “air hunger”, the feeling that you can’t get a satisfying breath, even though you are breathing frequently or deeply.

This often leads to a cycle:

1. You feel short of breath

2. You breathe more or deeper to compensate

3. Symptoms worsen

4. Anxiety increases

5. Breathing becomes even more dysregulated

   
   

What’s happening here is not a lack of oxygen, but often a drop in carbon dioxide levels due to over-breathing. Carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas, it plays a crucial role in helping oxygen release from the blood into tissues.

When carbon dioxide levels drop too low, oxygen delivery becomes less efficient. This can lead to symptoms like:

• Dizziness

• Fatigue

• Brain fog

• Increased heart rate

• Feelings of panic or breathlessness

  
  

For those already dealing with chronic illness, this can significantly amplify existing symptoms.

Breathing and Energy Conservation

Energy management is a central concern for people with CFS, long COVID, and fibromyalgia. Even small inefficiencies in how the body functions can have a noticeable impact.

Inefficient breathing is one such hidden drain.

Over-breathing increases the workload on respiratory muscles and can subtly raise baseline stress levels. This means your body is using more energy just to maintain basic function, energy that could otherwise be used for healing or daily activities.

In contrast, efficient breathing:

• Reduces unnecessary muscle effort

• Supports better oxygen utilisation

• Helps stabilise heart rate and blood pressure

• Promotes a calmer internal state

  
  

All of these contribute to improved energy regulation over time.

The Importance of Night-Time Breathing

Sleep is when the body carries out essential repair processes. However, if your breathing is disrupted during sleep, the quality of that recovery may be compromised.

Mouth breathing at night can lead to:

• Fragmented sleep

• Reduced oxygen efficiency

• Increased stress hormone release

• Waking feeling unrefreshed

  
  

For individuals already struggling with fatigue, this can be particularly impactful. Addressing breathing patterns during sleep is often a key step toward improving overall symptom management.

What Can You Do About It?

The encouraging news is that breathing patterns can be retrained. While it takes consistency and patience, small changes can lead to meaningful improvements over time.

1. Build Awareness

Start by noticing how you breathe throughout the day. Are you breathing through your nose or mouth? Is your breathing fast or slow? Shallow or deep?

Awareness is the first step toward change.

2. Practice Gentle Nasal Breathing

Aim to keep your mouth closed and breathe quietly through your nose as much as possible. This may feel challenging at first, especially if you’re used to mouth breathing.

Go gently, this is not about forcing but gradually retraining.

3. Slow Your Breathing

Try to reduce the speed and volume of your breath. Think “light, slow, and quiet.” This helps restore balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide.

4. Improve Carbon Dioxide Tolerance

Simple breath-hold exercises (done safely and gently) can help your body become more comfortable with slightly higher carbon dioxide levels, improving overall breathing efficiency.

5. Address Sleep Breathing

If you suspect mouth breathing at night, consider strategies to support nasal breathing, such as improving nasal hygiene, adjusting sleep position, or seeking professional guidance.

6. Stay Within Your Limits

For those with chronic illness, it’s important not to push too hard. Breathing retraining should feel manageable and calming, not stressful or exhausting.

A Gentle but Powerful Lever for Change

It’s easy to overlook breathing because it feels so basic. But in many ways, that’s exactly what makes it so powerful. It sits at the intersection of the respiratory system, the nervous system, and overall metabolic function.

For people living with CFS, long COVID, or fibromyalgia, where multiple systems are already under strain, improving breathing patterns can act as a gentle but effective lever for change.

It’s not a quick fix or a cure but it is a foundational piece of the puzzle.

Final Thoughts

If you recognise yourself in some of the signs discussed, mouth breathing, breathlessness, air hunger, or low breath-hold time, it may be worth exploring your breathing patterns more closely.

The goal is not perfection, but progress. Even small shifts toward more efficient, nasal, and controlled breathing can help reduce stress on the body and support a greater sense of calm and stability.

Your breath is always with you. Learning to work with it, rather than against it, may be one of the most accessible tools you have in managing your health.

And sometimes, the most powerful changes begin with something as simple and as profound as a single, quiet breath.

This blog post complements the guest webinar by Dr. Louise Oliver entitled:

"Is Your Unconscious Awake And Asleep Breathing Pattern Helping Or Hindering Your Symptoms?". For more information about Dr. Oliver's work on functional breathing techniques see her website: https://www.drlouiseolivertherapeuticlifecoaching.com/