Hyperawareness of breathing?

This has always been very hard for me to articulate, so please bear with me! Ever since I was a kid, there would be times that I would all of a sudden become hyperaware of my breathing. This occurrence would always come along with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. I can’t for the life of me describe this feeling, but I’ve always hated it. Once I feel it I can’t stop feeling it. To try to stop this feeling, I would try to breathe differently or move my stomach in different ways. This would never work it just made the feeling more noticeable and if anything I would start getting anxious. It bothered me a lot as a kid, but over time I would become distracted with something and forget it. I realized that the only way to make the feeling go away is to usually focus on what I’m doing in the present moment. I have heard of sensorimotor ocd, and don’t know if this qualifies as that. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night, and as I’m trying to fall back to sleep, I’m following meditations. These meditations always require you to focus on your breath, and the feeling has come back. Instead of getting to sleep, I have focused on this feeling for like an hour and have been researching “how to breathe properly”. I feel like I’m in a sticky situation because the only thing that helps me is distraction, but I don’t want to distract myself with anything that will keep me up any longer. Do you guys have any experience with this and do you have tips on how to help it? Also, anyone have any good tips to get you to sleep?

LiliElsee

Date posted: Yesterday

I experienced this a bit back and it was making it hard for me to sleep. Part of what helped me was an exposure where I was to only breathe through a tiny straw. It helps your body realize that it can survive with very little air. Another thing that helped me was actively holding my breath when I was trying and failing to sleep. I realized that my body would naturally inhale when it needed to. Somatic OCD wants to make you believe that your body can forget regular bodily functions, but the truth is that your body has self regulated for you up to now and that is what it is trained to do. Sometimes I still get these feelings and I really struggle with shortness of breath, but I try to breath with my diaphragm and just remind myself that the feeling always passes. Ironically sometimes wearing a mask helps me regulate my breathing faster because it keeps me from taking in too much air which is also another problem. Hope this helps!

Yazzyjazz

Date posted: Yesterday

@LiliElsee Thanks this really helps! I really appreciate the reminder to trust my body. I have been reminding myself that the feeling won’t last forever and that has been getting me through! Thank you!

KaitBubReign12

Date posted: Yesterday

I get the same! I learned that a lot of my “breathing” stressors came from my anxiety giving me acid reflux, which can feel like breathing issues but is really nothing to be worried about. If you get up, go to the shower and hop in it COLD water. It helps me a LOT. And shocks me out of that loop

Yazzyjazz

Date posted: Yesterday

@KaitBubReign12 Thanks for the reply! I noticed so much of my anxiety comes from my stomach, so any sort of sensation there is something I’m sensitive to. Thanks for the shower suggestion, sounds like something I need to try out!

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User type: Staff

Date posted: Yesterday

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