Your body produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct of your metabolism, so it’s fine-tuned to recognizing elevated levels of that. In contrast, your body doesn’t really have a measure for how much oxygen you’re getting.
So, it’s not the lack of oxygen that makes you feel like you’re suffocating, but the build-up of carbon dioxide. If you start breathing pure nitrogen instead, you’re still getting rid of the carbon dioxide normally, but you’re not getting any oxygen.
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