Breathing Disorders Essay Example

Breathing disorders can be extremely problematic and dangerous if not taken care of or treated carefully or correctly. There are many breathing disorders that can be talked about. These types of breathing disorders include: hyperventilation, dyspnea, bradypnea, tachypnea, hyperpnea, kussmaul breathing. All of these need to be taken care of properly, and can be very relatable to a lot of professions, especially with my profession of being a coach or professional baseball player. 

When it comes to the topic of breathing disorders, there are many things that need to be discussed. There are many different types of breathing disorders, and all have the same common goal as to getting that individual's breath back to as normal as possible. There are six types of breathing disorders, with the first one being hyperventilation. Hyperventilation begins when a person starts to breathe too fast for the body to handle, resulting in the individual's body getting rid of too much carbon dioxide (Smith). This type of breathing problem can happen during exercise, when a person starts to experience anxiety, or if they have asthma. The next type of breathing disorder is dyspnea. Dyspnea, can be mainly described as the shortness of breath, and could also be the plug that is pulled when someone starts to experience an asthma attack (Smith). This type of breathing problem can also be complicated to diagnose, due to the fact that there are multiple types of dyspnea. The next two are bradypnea and tachypnea. Bradypnea is when someone is breathing a lot slower than usual, while tachypnea is the opposite with someone breathing a lot faster than usual (Smith).  Hyperpnea is not necessarily like tachypnea or bradypnea, because it is when a person breathing in more air than usual, however not breathing any faster (Smith). The final type of breathing problem is called kussmaul breathing, which happens mainly to people who have diabetes or are diabetic. It can give doctors the interpretation that someone may have diabetes, which can give their breath a fruity smell (Smith). 

There are not a lot of crazy ways that go into how it can be treated for these disorders. A lot of them revolve around teaching people who suffer from these disorders the basics of breathing and will give them multiple exercises in order to get them back to the normalcy of that person's breath. For the more severe cases however, there are certain precautions and steps that need to be taken in order for the individual to be treated correctly and carefully. For some of the worst cases of the breathing disorder dyspnea, if the breathing gets to the point where it can not be controlled, the doctor could have to give that patient oxygen so that they can get air into their lungs (Smith). For hyperventilation, the common treatment is to have the person experiencing hyperventilation, to breathe into a paper bag in order to get a good rhythm and flow to their breath. Today, doctors will breathe with them, making sure they take nice and slow breaths in order to try and control the patient's breath (Smith). 

Breathing disorders can relate a lot to my profession due to the fact that there's a lot of pressure in my sport. In any professional sport, there are going to be a lot of personal demons, as well as outside pressure hovering over a coach or athlete, and one of the things that goes into having that control, is to control the breath. And having breathing problems or disorders can be very problematic if it is not properly treated. In order for that to work, athletes need to work on their breathing in a consistent manner. Make sure to always take nice, slow, and deep breaths so that athletes and coaches can stay in control of themselves. Also, if athletes have breathing disorders that need to be looked at and taken care of, their will be physical therapists that have the ability to work with the athletes so that they can correct their problems. It is also important for coaches to know and understand these issues, so that they can have good conversations with their players on how they can be of help to the players with their situation. 

References 

Smith, M. S. (2020, August 28). Types of Breathing Problems, Explained. WebMD. Retrieved April 19, 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/lung/breathing-problems.