Why can't I stop the hitching breathing?

Because the breathing pattern has been genuinely disrupted and is reorganising. It settles in a few minutes, and the double-inhale-long-exhale pattern shortens that by doing deliberately what the body is about to do anyway.

Why do I feel dizzy after crying?

Crying moves a lot of air, which lowers carbon dioxide and narrows blood vessels in the brain. Small nasal breaths afterwards reverse it faster than deep breaths do.

Is it better to cry or to hold it in?

Suppressing it tightens the throat and chest and tends to prolong the physical aftermath. Somewhere you feel safe is better than not at all — and if it is happening most days, that is worth talking to someone about.

After crying: the hiccupping breath, and how it settles

You have stopped crying and your breathing has not caught up. It comes in hitches, your chest jumps, and then a big shuddering breath arrives on its own. You feel wrung out and slightly dizzy.

Do this now

Settle the breath, two minutes

2 minutes

Sit upright and let the shoulders drop. Do not try to stop the hitching — it settles on its own.
One nasal breath in, a small second sip on top, then a long slow exhale through the mouth.
Four or five rounds. This is exactly what the body does unprompted after crying, done deliberately.
Then close the mouth and keep the breaths small and nasal for a minute. The dizziness is from over-breathing and it passes.
Water, and something to put your hands on. Both help more than they sound like they should.

Run it with a timer

Crying is a respiratory event

Sobbing consists of rapid, irregular inspirations against a partly closed larynx with interrupted exhalations. That disrupts the normal pattern substantially, and it moves a lot of air — which lowers carbon dioxide and produces the light-headedness, tingling and chest tightness that follow hard crying. The hitching, catching breath afterwards is the pattern reorganising itself.

Why the shuddering sigh arrives

During irregular shallow breathing, small air sacs collapse. A large double-inspiration reinflates them, which is what a sigh is for — and it is generated by a specific brainstem circuit that operates without your involvement. The big shuddering breath after crying is that mechanism doing its job. Doing it deliberately, as in the practice above, is simply pre-empting it.

Why you feel hollowed out afterwards

Hard crying involves sustained sympathetic activation followed by a parasympathetic rebound, along with genuine muscular effort in the chest, throat and face. The exhaustion is real. It is also usually followed by a genuine settling, which is why people report feeling better after crying even while feeling wrecked — and why lying down for ten minutes afterwards is a reasonable thing to do rather than a weakness.

What changes it, over a week

After crying
Four rounds of the double-inhale sigh, then small nasal breaths for a minute. It shortens the hitching phase.
If it happens often
Note when. Frequent crying that surprises you is information worth taking to someone rather than managing.
Daily
Ten minutes of slow nasal breathing. A lower background makes the waves smaller and shorter.
Do not suppress it
Holding crying back tightens the throat and chest and prolongs the physical aftermath. Somewhere private is better than not at all.

When this is not a breathing pattern

See a clinician — promptly, and before assuming any of this applies to you — if any of these describe you:

Breathlessness that does not settle within several minutes, or that is present without crying
Chest pain, fainting, or blue lips — seek urgent assessment
Crying most days, or crying without being able to say why, for more than two weeks
Hitching breathing in a child that persists, or with a fever or noisy breathing in — get that assessed
Any thoughts of harming yourself — contact your doctor or a crisis line today

This page is education, not medical advice, and no part of it is a diagnosis. Full disclaimer.

Questions people ask

Why can't I stop the hitching breathing?: Because the breathing pattern has been genuinely disrupted and is reorganising. It settles in a few minutes, and the double-inhale-long-exhale pattern shortens that by doing deliberately what the body is about to do anyway.
Why do I feel dizzy after crying?: Crying moves a lot of air, which lowers carbon dioxide and narrows blood vessels in the brain. Small nasal breaths afterwards reverse it faster than deep breaths do.
Is it better to cry or to hold it in?: Suppressing it tightens the throat and chest and tends to prolong the physical aftermath. Somewhere you feel safe is better than not at all — and if it is happening most days, that is worth talking to someone about.

What this page is built on

— Vingerhoets & Bylsma, 2016, Emotion Review — the riddle of human emotional crying, including its respiratory features
— Li et al., 2016, Nature — the brainstem circuit generating spontaneous sighs
— Gardner, 1996, Chest — hypocapnia and its symptom profile

Named by author and year. The DOIs live in the journal.

Put a number on it

Most of what is on this page tracks one measurement: the Control Pause. It takes sixty seconds, needs no account, and it is the thing that tells you whether any of this is working.