Dr. Don WoodResolving Your Trauma-Based Challenges So You Can Unlock Peak Performance

When you’re in the middle of a panic attack and someone tells you to “just breathe”.

10 Sept 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

2:17

In this short video Dr. Don Wood explains why the common advice to “just breathe” during a panic attack is ineffective. He argues that most people use an incorrect breathing pattern—taking a deep, rapid inhalation that floods the body with oxygen and disrupts the oxygen‑CO₂ balance, leading to a buildup of CO₂ in the blood, which can trigger or worsen panic symptoms. Wood then presents a specific breathing method designed to lower CO₂ levels: two short nasal inhales followed by a prolonged exhale. By expelling CO₂, the technique reduces the physiological trigger for panic, calming the brain’s threat response. The speaker emphasizes that the key to managing panic attacks is not simply breathing more, but breathing correctly to regulate CO₂.

Chapters

So you have a panic attack and people tell you, just breathe. Well, that doesn't really work because one, you haven't developed an effective breathing technique, and two, that doesn't help because they're just telling you something that feels obvious. They're not helping by telling you, just breathe. So the key is, and why breathing techniques don't work, is that people have developed the wrong breathing technique. So what you normally do, if somebody tells you just breathe, you're gonna take in a whole bunch of oxygen. You're just gonna go and breathe, right? That doesn't work. The reason that doesn't work is that you're taking in a lot of oxygen. That's going to then affect— then you're going to change the oxygen CO2 levels. So what the problem is, is that you've built up CO2 too much. And so that's going to then just mix it. What you want to do, the, the perfect technique to change a panic attack, is to take in 2 short breaths through your nose and then exhale extended. So you want to get that CO2 out of the system, and when you breathe out, you breathe out CO2. So you're just gonna go— That gets rid of the CO2. When CO2 builds up in the blood, that's an activation. Your body says, we've got too much CO2. Then it's going to start to go into a panic. It's going to then deliver the panic attack. So you want to change your breathing. Don't breathe in really, really deep, right? You want to then 2 short breaths, 1 long breath. That changes, that gets more CO2 out of your system. When your CO2 depletes, then it's going to then minimize and it's going to start reducing the panic and your brain is not going to believe that there's a threat. And that's it.