Causes and symptoms of air hunger

The University of Cincinnati's Jeffrey Strawn was featured in a VeryWell Mind article discussing "air hunger," the inability to breathe properly that can be a result of anxiety and panic.

Strawn said some patients describe air hunger as a suffocating feeling even though they are not physically exerting themselves. 

“Some have described it as like ‘breathing through a straw’ or they may feel their chest becoming tight,” said Strawn, MD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine and a UC Health child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Strawn told VeryWell Mind air hunger in anxiety and panic is closely tied to the body's autonomic nervous system that drives the fight-or-flight response. People with anxiety disorders may experience dysregulation of a concept called interoception, which refers to their awareness of internal bodily sensations like heartbeat, respiration and gastrointestinal activity.

“In these cases, the brain may misinterpret normal physiological sensations as dangerous,” Strawn said. “This heightened sensitivity may cause individuals to overreact to normal benign changes in breathing or heart rate, which can in turn, trigger or worsen panic.” 

While it seems counterintuitive, Strawn said slowing your breath is a good strategy to manage air hunger.

“A simple technique is paced breathing, where the individual breathes in through the nose for four counts, holds for four, and exhales through the mouth for six to eight counts,” he said. 

Read the VeryWell Mind article.

Featured photo at top of Dr. Strawn. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Marketing + Brand.