Understanding the Relationship Between Trauma, Stress, Breathing Behaviour, and Heart Rate Variability.
By David Cheng DDS
The body's primary function is to ensure survival by adapting and making compromises in its psychophysiological processes. While these adaptations are meant to protect and preserve us, they can sometimes lead to dysfunction over time.
Trauma, whether stored consciously or unconsciously, often stems from past events. These can range from minor incidents, like falling off a bicycle, to more complex and prolonged situations. Such experiences can significantly impact both the body and mind, leading to ongoing challenges and dysfunction.
Stress is the body’s psychophysiological response to real or perceived threats. Triggers for stress can originate from past traumatic events, such as revisiting painful memories, or from immediate stimuli, like a loud noise. While these stress responses are part of the body’s protective mechanisms, they can also contribute to persistent dysfunction.
David Cheng DDS
Breathing, although fundamental to our existence, is often taken for granted and rarely given conscious attention. Typically automatic, involuntary, and reflexive, breathing is regulated by a central pattern generator in the brain and influenced by various factors such as body pH, emotions, cognition, physical exertion, sleep, alertness, and temperature.
When confronted with a stressor or trigger, our breathing patterns can change dramatically. Instead of maintaining their usual rhythm, we may hyperventilate, characterized by fast, shallow breaths. This shift from automatic to controlled breathing lowers the body’s carbon dioxide levels, disrupts pH balance, and reduces the oxygen available to the brain and other parts of the body by up to 40%. Consequently, this can lead to anxiety, panic, impaired cognition, irritability, dizziness, tingling in the extremities, and a sensation of air hunger.
This alteration in breathing behavior also affects heart rate, which is reflected in a measure known as Heart Rate Variability (HRV). HRV refers to the variation in the time intervals between successive heartbeats and serves as an indicator of the balance between the body’s fight-or-flight response and its rest-and-digest response, governed by the autonomic nervous system.
David Cheng in Voices of Deoli, film still.
HRV is commonly tracked by devices from brands like Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and Fitbit, serving as a biomarker of stress. There is an inverse relationship between HRV and heart rate: as heart rate increases, HRV typically decreases, and vice versa. Higher HRV is generally associated with greater resilience to stress and a better ability to adapt and recover from it, while lower HRV indicates a reduced capacity to manage and recover from stress.
Chronic stress or trauma can result in dysfunctional breathing behaviour, leading to higher heart rates, lower HRV, and an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system. This imbalance heightens the body's fight-or-flight responses and diminishes its ability to adapt and recover from stress.
Biofeedback aims to increase awareness of the body’s physiological processes. By using techniques to monitor parameters like breathing, heart rate, muscle activity, skin conductance, and peripheral skin temperature, biofeedback helps individuals move from being unaware of these processes to actively monitoring and controlling them.
The goal of biofeedback training is to restore balance between the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) systems, improving overall cardiac efficiency and synchronization. Research shows that HRV biofeedback training can significantly boost HRV and help reduce anxiety and stress levels.
Specifically, breathing biofeedback aims to restore the body’s pH to its normal level, while HRV biofeedback seeks to restore balance in the autonomic nervous system. By addressing these imbalances, the body becomes better equipped to respond to stressors and heal from past trauma.
Michael Cheng, David Cheng, Moses Cheng in Voices of Deoli, film still.
In summary, the complex interplay between trauma, stress, breathing behaviour, and heart rate variability (HRV) highlights both the body's adaptive strengths and vulnerabilities. Trauma can disrupt our stress responses and breathing, impacting heart health and resilience. Recognizing these signs empowers us to take action, and techniques like biofeedback can help restore balance and promote healing.
In future, we will delve into personal experiences with trauma and stress, discovering effective strategies for managing challenges and enhancing our well-being. Together, we can navigate this journey toward resilience and recovery.
Doctor David Cheng practices dentistry at West Coast Smile in the greater Vancouver/BC metropolitan area, specializing in TMJ treatment and cosmetic dentistry. David is a survivor of Deoli Internment Camp. You can follow him on Instagram @davidchengdds or visit his website, drchengs.com for free educational resources on dental health. Check back for his next articles on trauma and its effects on oral health.
Get in touch with Dr. Cheng if you have questions on this topic.
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