• CD Moderators: nepalnt21
  • Cannabis Discussion Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules

Why do smokers (stereotypically) forget to breathe?

M

Mootoo

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
43
The following theory of mine is more intuitive than anything, but I have the impression that being high suppresses autonomic control of the body... or consciousness assumes more of a presence, and as such breathing (which is usually an unconscious act) could easily not be focused on at some point while the mind is occupied elsewhere.

I personally observed my anxiety levels rising after thinking that I'm not breathing... but I'm not sure if it's just an illusion, and anxiety was really caused by other matters.
 
... okay while I am sure there are some people who have "forgotten to breath", I and many other smokers have no idea what you are talking about. Do you mean getting high and literally forgetting how to breath, or forgetting to breath? Either way,

Here's how you really forgetting to breath would go down:
1)pass out - unconscious
2)start breathing.

You got high, really high, and then started freaking about things you normally don't even think about. Same reason some smokers will say their heart is beating faster, harder, etc, when in reality it is the same. You get high, your perspective changes. Seems to me you'd have to be really, really high to actually forget to breath, like near no tolerance. If anything, your conscious locomotive movements are suppressed by being high (as seen in rats, dosed with CB1).

Being high doesn't suppress autonomic control of the body. Being high makes you think this sounds logical :D
 
umm... what the last guy said.

although to your point, i have gotten so stoned that i take a hit and forget to exhale it for around 30 or 40 seconds... typically i count to ten then exhale, but i forgot to exhale after i hit ten because i was distracted, then suddenly i realized i was STILL holding my breath. it was kinda funny. i forgot cuz of a long ass crazy idea id just had. so yes, its possible.

but i did breath again. it could be because i have ADHD and am very easily distracted by things (in this case the bizarre and seemingly ingenious thoughts i was having). although at the time that happened i had little to no tolerance and i was smoking near medical quality bud, so i was REALLY baked.
 
Weed does lower my blood pressure and because it's already low to start with I get cold more easily. My heart tends to get faster after I smoke, maybe because blood pressure is dropping. On the whole though it tends to relax my system and doesn't concern me. On the whole I don't really pay much attention to my autonomic functions while I'm high because if I did I would probably start getting paranoid, which would cause changes to my breathing!
 
yeah as a daily smoker i have no clue what the original post is saying
^gearfiend, i do the same shit, ill tryn pack my next sobe or bong bowl as im holding in my hit, and ill just forget im holding it. sometimes its for like a full minute.
 
lol... I sometimes "forget" to breath when I'm stoned. I think you don't actually forget to breath, you just focus on an idea or follow the trail of an idea so much that when you are aware of/realize you are actually here, your first impulse is to breath, thus thinking you "forgot" to breath.

This sometimes happens to me when I'm about to sleep too.
 
I've never heard of forgetting to breath on weed. Heroin, yes. Weed, no. I think it's just anxiety.
 
Eh... It is actually known. Smokers in general tend to hold their breath/breath shallow.

I do know what the OP is talking about.

I find as one mentions above, that sometimes we focus on something so much that it disrupts breathing. Like... you freeze.
 
yeah. glad i described it so everyone could identify with it... most everyone anyway.

haha yeah i hold in some hits for like 45 secs or a minute then i see all the dots and stars and i realize im still holding my breath and i exhale quick and gulp down air. but i like the headrush...

anyway smoke on. i just found some of my old bud my dad found and took away in his car... dumb hiding place to keep it there for months... luckily my paranoid self only kept bud in prescription bottles so it was still good dry and fairly potent for mids. so baked :D
 
Mootoo said:
The following theory of mine is more intuitive than anything, but I have the impression that being high suppresses autonomic control of the body... or consciousness assumes more of a presence, and as such breathing (which is usually an unconscious act) could easily not be focused on at some point while the mind is occupied elsewhere.

I personally observed my anxiety levels rising after thinking that I'm not breathing... but I'm not sure if it's just an illusion, and anxiety was really caused by other matters.
Click to expand...

stay away from opioids if your worried about forgetting to breathe hehe

i remember...yes i actually remember when i was younger and had real bad pasties/cotton mouth and i thought i wasnt actually dry but that it was just in my head, like my mind telling me that im dry but im actually not...remember pulling my tongue out wit hmy hands and it felt like a cat tongue...tried to hock up a golly couldnt do it...i tripped on that for ages...got real paranoid about how bad it must be for my brain / body etc...

iv had a pneurothorax (collapsed lung from bongs) holdingt the smoke in for ages some people call it ghosting is really really bad for your lungs...just my 2c

bong on!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top