When you run out of breath and you take a deep breath in, why do you still feel out of breath until you take a deep breath multiple times?
In: Biology
The “out of breath” feeling is the result of the oxygen level in your blood dropping and/or your body’s demand for oxygen rising above what’s currently available. One deep breath will only oxygenate the blood that’s in your lungs during that breath. Also, it might take a few moments for the post-deep-breath blood to reach the part of your brain that’s sending the “we need more air” signal, which has to happen for that signal to stop being sent.
Running our of breath is caused by carbon dioxyde accumulating in your bloodstream.
As you’re not breathing out, it has nowhere to go and cause pain in your whole body is not quickly disposed of.
When you breath in and out once, you will expell CO2, but not the whole amount that built-up in your body. This would take a few breath in order to recirculate your blood in your whole body
Your breathing pattern is based on the CO2 levels in your blood under normal circumstances. (Not O2, as you might expect.) While one deep breath might be enough to inhale the required oxygen, it’s definitely not enough to exhale the built-up carbon dioxide. This process is based on the difference in CO2 levels between your blood and the air in your lungs. As the CO2 in your blood decreases by moving into the air, the air CO2 levels rise, until they match. At that point, no more CO2 is transferred from your blood to your lungs. Funneling ‘clear’ air through your lungs multiple times will ensure a significantly different gradient, allowing diffusion to do its job.
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