The Buteyko (Shallow Breathing) Method for Controlling Asthma The Buteyko "Shallow Breathing" method is a simple, easy way to help to help relieve the symptoms of asthma and other respiratory problems. This page explains the actual method in full. Unlike most other Buteyko sites, its not trying to sell you anything. Its free, its easy, and it could make a real difference to your asthma in about 7 days. Disclaimer: Asthma is dangerous. It can kill. Use your common sense. You are responsible for your own actions. I am not a Doctor, before you alter your medication, talk to one.
The Buteyko Technique "Buteyko" is a set of simple breathing exercises to help control asthma and other breathing disorders. Anyone can do it, and it only takes a week or so to master, and more than 50% of people with asthma will benefit from it.
Step 1 : The "Control Pause" Breathing Test Take 2 normal breaths, then breath out, out, and then see how long you can hold your breath for. Your goal is to be able to hold it for at least 60 secs.
Step 2 : Shallow Breathing Breathe, only using your nose, for 5 minutes. Take shallow breaths, using only your nose to breath through. Keep your mouth shut. Then take the "control pause" test again to see if your count has improved. Its that simple. Hint: if your nose is blocked up, try pinching your nostrils together for a few seconds. This helps clear your nasal passage.
Step 3 : Putting it Together Repeat the "test - breath - test" routine 4 or so times in a row. It will take about 25 mins. Repeat this training session 3 or 4 times a day, every day, for a week. Don't worry if you miss a session or 2, but do carry on. Its increasing your 'control pause' test result that's the goal. That's it. Its that simple. After a week, you should be able to breath out and hold your breath for a count of over 60 secs., and hopefully, your asthma will be much better. You do not need to go on an overpriced Buteyko course ... if you want to know more, read one of the books mentioned below.
A good way to insure you stick to something, is to keep a log of your progress. Create a chart like this, using Excel for example, with 4 rows for each day, to record your progress, and the amount of medication you use. Date
Mon, 26-Jan-04
Time 8 am
Test 1 (start)
Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 (end)
35
33
31
28
12 noon
Tue, 27-Jan-04
Comments 1 puff missed (met Jill for lunch), 1 puff
6 pm
39
31
37
35
10 pm
29
27
31
33
8 am
33
35
39
40
1 puff of inhaler 1 puff
How It Works Breathing is controlled by the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2)in the blood (not by the amount of oxygen). Normally, when the amount of CO 2 in your blood rises, you breathe. This replaces some of the CO 2 with oxygen, and so lowers the CO2 level back to normal. During an asthma attack, people panic and breath too quickly. They actually overbreathe because they are breathing so rapidly, i.e. they are breathing in a far greater volume of air than normal. This causes the amount of CO2 in the blood to fall too low. The body reacts by causing the airways in the lungs to narrow and reduce the amount of air inhaled in each breath... which panics the patient into trying to breath even harder... This technique will break this "negative feedback" cycle by teaching you to : y y
breath more shallowly, i.e. decreasing the volume of air reaching the lungs with each breath. tolerate a higher concentration of C02 in your blood.
With only a little effort, you can make a big difference to your breathing in only a little time. According to the Buteyko theory, modern asthma drugs ("brown" preventers and "blue" inhalers) actually make the problem worse, by masking the body's self defensive behaviour. By stopping the 'breathe less' response, they only make the body try harder next time, that is, have a stronger asthma attack. Think of it like this, if you put your hand in a fire it hurts. Modern asthma drugs are like pain killers, they only stop your hand from hurting, i.e. they address the symptom, not the cause of the problem. The symptom is the asthma attack, the cause is breathing in too much oxygen and having too little CO2 in the blood. There are probably several root causes of the symptom that we call asthma. Some of these causes respond very well to this breathing technique, some do not. Hence, if you follow this technique, there is a very good chance than your asthma will greatly improve, but there is a chance it will not. However, its easy to try, its free, and its not surgical and doesn't involve taking any drugs.
Further
Reading
United Kingdom Dr. Buteyko is a Russian Doctor who developed the technique. He has written the forward to the definitive definitive book on the subject: Freedom from Asthma: Buteyko's Revolutionary Treatment Unfortunately, while telling you all about the theory behind the treatment, its doesn't describe the actual shallow breathing technique at all, it just says "go on a course", which makes the whole book seem like a sales patter. You should be aware of this before buying the book. This new book sounds promising, but I haven't read it yet. Asthma Free Naturally: Including the highly effective Buteyko Breathing Method
USA Neither of the 2 UK books are currently in print in the US at present, but this book explains the technique and its background very clearly. I've also heard very good things about this book.
The Official View Asthma UK, UK, a UK Asthma charity, has this to say about the Butekyo technique : little has been published in medical journals about the Buteyko technique... Two [Australian] studies ... found both positive and negative effects of the technique.
ery V ery
Asthma UK funded research ... of the Buteyko breathing method ... It showed that for some people with asthma the Butekyo breathing technique helped to reduce their symptoms and use of reliever inhaler, but it did not improve their underlying condition. Buteyko breathing may help people adapt to their asthma and feel more in control of their treatment and may be worth trying for those ... willing to commit the time required. More research is needed to identify if certain people with asthma benefit more than others. A review for the Austrailian Government, Breathing exercises for asthma (Holloway E, Ram FSF., Cochrane Review) found that they hasn't been enough research as the combined total of people involved in all Buteyko trials is less than 400. It takes commitment for people to learn and practise these techniques regularly... [we] have not identified any adverse effects ... from using these techniques. ... the current results [from trials] are encouraging ... ... there was some ... improvement for people who did the breathing training compared to those who did not, in every trial. For more information about this and asthma in general : Austrialian Gov's Informed Health Asthma page
Some Asthma y y
y
y
Facts
Asthma rates are increasing in the west ... 10% of children in the UK have it. Asthma rate don't vary within a country, but do vary between countries, e.g., the rate of asthma is the same in the inner city and in remote country areas, i.e. its not caused by pollution. The number of deaths from asthma is greater now than before modern asthma drugs were invented. The weather affects asthma admissions to hospital.
Some (Unproven) Asthma Theories y
y y y y
Asthma is caused by us being too clean, and our bodies immune system over-react to harmless substances e.g. as children on farms (with more bugs) have less asthma. Asthma is caused by the over-use of antibiotics (same immune system theory as above) Asthma is caused by certain plastics, e.g. in water bottles. Asthma is caused by a virus. Selenium, Vitamin C, Fish Oil supplements help (take your pick).
Intro to Buteyko Breathing by Karen Robinson Intro to Buteyko Breathing
A Russian physician named Constantin Buteyko Bute yko discovered some important principles of breathing in the 1950¶s, and the breathing method he developed has a long history of safe use. It corrects hyperventilation, which causes many co mmon disorders, and surprisingly 98% of us are actually hyperventilating as our usual way of breathing! The Buteyko method is sometimes known for treating asthma or panic attacks, but really it¶s for everyone who can¶t hold ho ld their breath for 60 seconds comfortably! The Buteyko website says this about what it can treat: ³Most of all, diseases, which often accompan y br onchial onchial asthma: chr chr onic onic r hinitis, hinitis, br onchitis, onchitis, pneumonia, h y per per tension, tension, and stenocar stenocar dia. dia. Br Br onchial onchial asthma and stenocar stenocar dia dia ar ar e onl y 2 distinctive models, which effectivel y demonst r rate a te application of the Bute yk o method. However However , these ar ar e, e, by far far , not the fir fir st diseases, which can be successfull y t r reated e ated using the Bute yk o method.
N or malization malization
of the immune r esponse esponse r emoves emoves appear appear ance ance of var var ious ious for for ms ms of aller aller g y. y. Impr Impr ovements ovements in blood suppl y and ox y genation of the whole or or ganism mak mak e application of the Bute yk Bute yk o method efficient in solving pr pr oblems which ar ar e connected with toxicosis of pr pr egnanc egnanc y , sleep disturb disturbances, ances, insomnia, snor snor ing, ing, sleep apnoea, and also for for a a wide r ange ange of neur neur otic otic diseases of the ner ner vous vous s y stem.´ This is based on the fact t hat CO2 is actually not purely the waste gas we think it is, but that CO2 actually helps to make O2 available to the cells. Without enough CO2, you can gulp air and still not feel like you¶re getting enough. enoug h. This is the situation not only with asthmatics but with peo ple who have chronic anxiet y, panic attacks, depression, any condition associated assoc iated with stress, all kinds of nervous and immune system disorders, cardiovascular disorders, migraine, etc. Now, to introduce you to what a beginning Buteyko routine might look like.. And like.. And I also want to emphasize that this is just an int r roduction o duction to the topic, which r eall eall y r equir equir es es coaching and ideall y the guidance of a cer cer tified tified Bute yk o pr pr actitioner actitioner to to lear lear n man y of the mor mor e sub subtle aspects of the pr pr actice. actice. See the Link Link s section of this web web site for for mo mor r e infor infor mation mation ab about Bute yk o br eathing eathing and pr pr actitioner actitioner s. First to define some terms: t erms: CP = Control Pause. you sit quietly, breathe normally for a minute or two, then after an exhale (don¶t try to exhale every last bit of breath, just exhale naturally) hold your breath comfortably and time how long you do that before you get a strong urge to inhale. if you have to gasp or gulp air after that, you¶ve gone too far; do it again. you should just be able to resume normal breathing after that. it shouldn¶t be uncomfortable. a little little strange, maybe, but not uncomfortable. This is used as a diagnostic and also a lso as a measure of o f your progress. if you are below 40 seconds, seco nds, the Buteyko method is indicated. RB = Reduced Breathing± this t his is breathing shallowly but also slowly. you sit co mfortably, mfortably, or reclining, and allow the breath to get ³smaller.´ A helpful technique i use is just noticing the breath. don¶t try to do anything to it; just watch it, and it naturally gets smaller. you can put a hand on your belly to feel it rising on the inhale and going down on the exhale. You watch the movement getting smaller. also notice that there is a natural pause after the exhale, but don¶t try to extend it. just ³intend´ to breathe smaller and slower. A Beginning Routine: y y y y
Do a CP Do 10 minutes of RB Do 3 minutes of normal breathing Do a CP
This is one set. The number of sets you need to do depends on your particular circumstances, but a general recommendation is to do one set 3x/day the first day, then increase the number of sets up to a total of 80-90 min of RB each day. If you¶ve done it correctly, correctly, the last CP should be higher. The RB is the real therapeutic part of it. There are many variations on this, and as I mentioned before, it¶s highly recommended to work with a certified Buteyko practitioner to guide gu ide you in practicing the method correctly and safely.
