Chronic fatigue syndrome linked to high rates of dysfunctional breathing patterns

Medical Xpress / Frontiers / Frontiers in Medicine ^ | Nov. 10, 2025 | Dr. Benjamin Natelson et al

[ConservativeMind]

Chronic fatigue syndrome leaves patients exhausted and struggling with brain fog.

Now, scientists investigating shortness of breath in chronic fatigue patients have discovered that they are highly likely to experience dysfunctional breathing, which could be caused by dysautonomia, abnormal control of innervation to blood vessels and muscles. Targeting treatments toward these breathing problems could potentially offer patients some relief from their symptoms.

The scientists recruited 57 patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and 25 control participants whose ages and activity levels matched the chronic fatigue cohort. Both groups took part in cardiopulmonary exercise tests over two days.

Dysfunctional breathing is usually associated with asthma patients, but it can arise from many different causes. Characteristics include deep sighing in the course of ordinary breathing, overly rapid breathing, forcing an exhale from the abdomen, breathing from the chest without using the diaphragm so the lungs are never properly full, and a loss of synchrony between the chest and abdomen, so the different muscles which help with breathing aren't working together.

The scientists found that participants with chronic fatigue were taking in approximately the same amount of oxygen when they breathed compared to the control participants—their peak VO2 maxes were comparable. However, 71% of the participants with chronic fatigue experienced breathing problems—either hyperventilation, dysfunctional breathing, or both.

Both dysfunctional breathing and hyperventilation can cause symptoms similar to chronic fatigue, like dizziness, difficulty focusing, shortness of breath and exhaustion. Combining the two can also cause people to experience heart palpitations, chest pain, fatigue, and (unsurprisingly) anxiety.

"Breathing exercises via yoga could potentially help, or gentle physical conditioning where breath control is important, as with swimming," suggested Natelson.

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TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS:

[ConservativeMind]

Breathing exercises could minimize multiple symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.

[ConservativeMind]

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[gundog]

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Day and night, for as long as I can recall.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I can absolutely believe this. Also pertaining to sleep quality and apnea.

[FoxInSocks]

Both dysfunctional breathing and hyperventilation can cause symptoms similar to chronic fatigue, like dizziness, difficulty focusing, shortness of breath and exhaustion. Combining the two can also cause people to experience heart palpitations, chest pain, fatigue, and (unsurprisingly) anxiety.

Or correlation/causation is confused here, and anxiety often explains these symptoms. In which case recognition of anxiety and then using breathing exercises could be very beneficial.

I didn’t see a link to the paper, so I didn’t look at it.