Every once in a while, I'll ask an LLM something and it'll respond with something I find genuinely useful. Rather than waste my time fact-checking it, putting it into my own words, and carefully-edited articles based on "shit this AI told me", I figured I'd just make a section of the site with big flashing red text that says:
I have a real struggle that is hugely impacting my quality of life: whenever I'm in a room with less than stellar airflow, higher than ideal temperature, or a bed that traps heat, I will often wake up within a couple hours of going to sleep in a panic that I'm not getting enough to breathe.
I've been tested for apnea and it appears to not be that. I have an Eight Sleep at home and that's also very helpful. When I'm traveling, I try to bring a USB-powered fan or borrow one from a hotel, but neither are fool-proof.
What is going on here and what can I do?
Waking up suddenly feeling you “can’t get enough air” can be scary. This nighttime air hunger often results from a mix of physiological factors (like how your body senses CO₂ or airway resistance), environmental conditions (stuffy room, temperature, humidity), and psychological triggers (anxiety or learned associations). Below, we’ll explore possible causes and practical strategies to manage and prevent these episodes, both at home and while traveling.
CO₂ Sensitivity (False Suffocation Alarm): Some people have an over-sensitive response to rising CO₂ levels in the blood. Even a mild buildup of CO₂ (for example, in a poorly ventilated room) can trigger the brain’s “suffocation alarm,” causing you to wake up gasping. Research on panic disorder shows that patients with prominent respiratory symptoms are more sensitive to CO₂ and prone to nocturnal panic attacks scielo.br. In other words, your body might overreact to normal fluctuations in CO₂ at night, jolting you awake with a feeling of dread or need for air. One theory (Klein’s false suffocation alarm) suggests this sensitivity leads to a cycle of over-breathing and breath-holding that triggers panic during sleep scielo.br.