Despite what you might guess, when monitoring your breathing, your body doesn't care whether you're inhaling enough oxygen. It cares only whether you're expelling enough carbon dioxide - that's the gas that sets off the panic button when you're suffocating.

Sam Kean

Sam Kean

Body Breathing Button Carbon Carbon Dioxide Care Cares Despite Enough Gas Guess Might Monitoring Off Only Oxygen Panic Sets Suffocating Whether You Your Your Body

Related Quotes

If we over-breathe we lose carbon dioxide. The tissues then become starved of oxygen and then our body's systems start to spasm -it's then that we run into all sorts of health problems.

— Roger Price

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I don't think God cares what you put in your body or on your body.

— Tammy Faye Bakker

Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live.

Many ways of taking care of carbon dioxide are being studied, particularly carbon sequestration,

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You have to trust your body to take care of you.

— A. J. Langer