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, 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 | Time | Test 1 (start) | Test 2 | Test 3 | Test 4 (end) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, 26-Jan-04 | 8 am | 35 | 33 | 31 | 28 | 1 puff |
| 12 noon | missed (met Jill for lunch), 1 puff | |||||
| 6 pm | 39 | 31 | 37 | 35 | 1 puff of inhaler | |
| 10 pm | 29 | 27 | 31 | 33 | ||
| Tue, 27-Jan-04 | 8 am | 33 | 35 | 39 | 40 | 1 puff |
How It Works
Breathing is controlled by the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2)in the blood (not by the amount of oxygen).Normally, when the amount of CO2 in your blood rises, you breathe. This replaces some of the CO2 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 :
- 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.
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 book on the subject:Freedom from Asthma: Buteyko's Revolutionary TreatmentUnfortunately, 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. |
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I've also heard very good things about this book.
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The Official View
Asthma UK, a UK Asthma charity, has this to say about the Butekyo technique :Very little has been published in medical journals about the Buteyko technique... Two [Australian] studies ... found both positive and negative effects of the technique.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.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.
It takes commitment for people to learn and practise these techniques regularly...For more information about this and asthma in general : Austrialian Gov's Informed Health Asthma page[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.
Some Asthma 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
- 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).
Introduction