Skin health and breathing

Our skin cells require sufficient oxygen and blood supply for their normal work. Our breathing pattern and even small imperceptible changes in breathing have profound effects on blood circulation and oxygenation of all tissues and organs, the skin included. Think about the following simple test. When we deliberately breathe heavy (severe hyperventilation), we can faint or pass out in about 1-2 minutes. Why? Here is the chain of events confirmed by dozens of physiological and medical studies. First, heavy breathing removes too much CO2 from the lungs. Seconds later, CO2 in the arterial blood drops below the medical norm. This causes constriction (or spasm) of arteries and arterioles due to CO2 deficiency. This causes reduction in blood supply to tissues and, hence, reduction in oxygen delivery. Hence, we need to breathe in accordance with physiological norms for great oxygenation and perfusion of all vital organs, including the skin.

Both, circulation and oxygenation can be checked using the stress-free breath holding time test. After exhalation, observe how long the person can hold their breath without any stress or discomfort. Your breathing after the test should be the same as before it, if you do the test correctly. Normal values are about 40-60 s. If you have less, your circulation and oxygenation are compromised. Why? Because your breathing is bigger than the norm.

Curiously, the physiological norm for breathing is very small (only 6 liters or air per minute for a 70-kg man at rest). This standard was established about a century ago. It was an average number for a group of ordinary healthy people. However, modern man over-breathes by about 30-70% and never notice this. We notice or agree that our breathing is heavy when we breathe 4-5 times more air than the norm.

People with various skin problems (eczema, dermatitis, neurodermitis, psoriasis, etc.) chronically over-breathe. You can observe and hear their noisy and deep breathing. But if you check their stress-free breath holding time (index of oxygenation and circulation) after exhalation, it is always below the norm. Instead of 40-60 s, as it should be in health, sick people have about 10-15 s, severely sick even less than that. It may look surprising that sick people breathe deeper and bigger, but their oxygenation and circulation of tissues are compromised. How to normalize oxygenation and circulation? By breathing less and increasing body oxygen stores.

This simple breathing exercise was developed and used by about 200 Russian medical doctors. It helped many thousands of people in Russia. The exercise can relieve the symptoms in about 2-3 minutes.

Practical steps to stop skin itching

Sit down on a chair with your spine straight. Relax all your muscles. Focus on your breathing. What do you feel? If the sensations are vague, take a deep but slow in-breath and relax to slowly exhale. Do you feel the airflow going through your nostrils? Do you have any sensations at the back of your throat? Are there any feelings about movement of air inside the chest and bronchi? What do you sense near your stomach?

Next, instead of taking your usual large inhalation, take a slightly smaller inhalation (only about 5-10% less) and then immediately relax all muscles, especially upper chest and all other breathing muscles. Take another (smaller) inhalation and again completely relax.

With each breath, take a small or reduced inhalation and then completely relax. You will soon experience light air hunger. The goal is to preserve this light level of air hunger for 2-3 minutes.

The breathing can be frequent during this reduced or shallow breathing but this is OK. If you do the exercise correctly, you will notice that you negative symptoms disappear in the same 2-3 minutes.

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If you normalize your breathing or slow it down back to the medical norm, your stress-free breath holding time after an exhalation will be about 40-60 s. This means a lot of oxygen in the body and skin. This will also mean excellent blood circulation and no problems with skin itching, eczema, dermatitis, and other conditions.