Breathe: Some just don't remember to

I was checking one of my favourite web sites today when I noticed that he had a new segment on remembering. I checked it out and was pleased to find that he had included my personal affliction: forgetting to breathe. It sounds strange, I know, but first I must explain how my breathing is different. I don't breathe in, out, in, out. I breathe in, pause, out, pause, in, pause, out, pause. Each of those pauses is only about a second but it is still a noticeable break. I've only ever come across one person who breathed in this fashion but he never forgets to breathe. What happens is that I get stuck in the pause. I'll breathe out and, instead of breathing in after the pause, I'll just wait. It isn't a conscious decision, and the best explanation I have is that my body just forgets. It’s usually in moments of intense concentration that I’ll forget. A friend of mine’s father used to wake up in the middle of the night because he forgot to breathe, so he went to the doctor to find out if there was any way to remedy this problem and, as it turns out, that is a valid affliction. Turns out that many people forget to breathe in there sleep, but it normally doesn’t wake them up. I think I’ve just got the daytime version.