Causes of Breathlessness

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Most cases of breathlessness occur because of a lack of fitness, often made worse by obesity. This kind of breathlessness can always be corrected by sustained, graded exercise and by losing excess weight.

Other common causes of sudden breathlessness include:

Asthma Pneumonia (chest infection)
Heart failure (inefficient pumping because of heart disease)
Sudden worsening of long-term Lung disease (e.g. Emphysema)
Hyperventilation (over breathing due to anxiety).

Common causes of chronic breathlessness include:

Obesity (overweight)
Chronic obstructive lung disease
Anaemia
Heart failure (inefficient pumping)
Asthma.

Breathlessness can sometimes be caused for other reasons. Smoking is a particularly important cause of breathlessness for several reasons. For instance, cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that combines so tightly with haemoglobin in the blood that the affected haemoglobin canâ€™t perform its normal function.

One of the most important causes of severe breathlessness is left heart failure. When the left side of the heart is unable to clear the blood from the lungs quickly enough, fluid accumulation in the lungs causing breathlessness. This is the main symptom of left heart failure and it may occur on mild exertion or even when the affected person is at rest. There may be attacks of sudden breathlessness during the night.

Breathlessness can sometimes have a psychological cause as part of a panic reaction. The most common form of this is over-breathing known as hyperventilation. If this persists, so much carbon dioxide is breathed out that the blood becomes alkaline and its calcium level drops.

Anaemia, in which the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood is reduced, will cause increased breathlessness on effort. And any loss of heart efficiency, from any cause, will interfere with the efficient circulation of the blood and cause breathlessness.