Dyspnea, a “subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity”, is an important source of distress for ICU patients [
15]. Up to one-half of mechanically ventilated patients report dyspnea, expressed either as “air hunger” or “excessive breathing effort” [
15,
16]. With decreasing use of sedation and analgesia, increasing mobility, and wider application of low-volume mechanical ventilation, dyspnea prevalence may rise. Suffering due to dyspnea, often under-recognized by clinicians, has been associated with anxiety and pain in ICU as well as post-ICU psychological burden [
17,
18]. Dyspnea is ideally assessed by patients’ reports [
15,
16] using instruments such as the visual analogue scale (VAS), modified Borg scale, and faces scale. Asking the patient: (1) “Are you feeling short of breath right now?” and, if yes, (2) “Is your shortness of breath mild, moderate, or severe?” is feasible for routine clinical use by staff such as respiratory therapists [
19]. After attending to underlying etiologies (e.g., bronchopulmonary infection, obstructive airways disease, and/or heart failure), other factors that may increase ventilatory drive (e.g., acidosis, anemia, fever, pain, anxiety), and the patient–ventilator interface, dyspnea can be managed pharmacologically (opioids) and non-pharmacologically. Noninvasive ventilation may be appropriate, while oxygen therapy is not always beneficial [
20].