Many of us are on the way toward radically reduced breathing ability and we just don't know it. For optimum quality of life it is indispensable to know which conditions are most likely to cause SOB, whether or not we can feel them on a moment to moment basis. Flat tires come a lot quicker when the tire has been worn down to the threads and so does illness and death related to shortness of breath. It will readily appear, in almost any form, when the breath is smaller, weaker, or uncoordinated and when it is at less than optimal functioning. Twenty percent seems about average for lung function.
Shortness of breath can stem directly and indirectly from many sources.
Present time problems such as Heart attacks, lung disease, asthma, and suffocation are comparatively easy to observe. Leading edge health practitioners realize there may be many aspects to shortness of breath that may not be considered by much of Western Medical Science. SOB is largely a matter of degree and individual susceptibility. The most important aspects from a health standpoint are the chronic types of shortness of breath that reduce lung volume, increase breath rate, hinder breathing coordination and invite unneeded effort to breathe. Shortness of breath is much like soil erosion.