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It would be good to get your feedback about this training course so that we can improve it in any way and offer you more personalized help.
It would also be useful to know what made you decide to take this course, perhaps you had a health problem you thought might be helped with improved breathing, or you had heard of the Buteyko Method but not been able to find a trainer near you, or you may have just decided this would be a good way of improving your health and immune system.
If you have any suggestions as to how the course might be improved or developed , that would be welcomed as well.
I am passionate that as many people in the world should have access to this remarkable work of Professor Konstantin Buteyko, most of us need it. Tell your friends and relatives about this powerful aid to health and you might even Twitter a comment!
My email is [email protected] or [email protected]
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Better Breathing Means better Health - Episode #16
What you eat affects how you breathe and how you breathe affects what you eat.
This idea comes as a surprise to many people who have never believed there was a connection between our eating and our breathing habits. However over the past forty years inn the health profession I have come to the conclusion that our health is connected to everything, and a few years ago I published a book entitled “Connection - Towards a Broader Understanding of Health in Medicine” that expands on this concept.
After three years of research, gathering data from over 250 patients it seems quite clear that there is a strong relationship between our breathing and are eating habits. There are good physiological reasons why our diet impacts on our breathing and Professor Buteyko incorporated this in his training programme, but our Western diet today is very different from the diet of ordinary people in Russia back in the 1950’s. The link between our breathing and the food we choose to eat and how we eat it is more subtle with psychological influences.
Basically the better our breathing, the more selective and better is our eating and likewise the better our eating habits, the better is our breathing.
In the current situation of the COVID-19 (2020) this may have a profound impact on people's capacity to deal with infections and in particular all viral infections.
Our immune system can be improved by lifestyle changes and there are three key factors that can influence the immune system in this way.
They are: our nutritional status or what we eat, the way we breathe and our management of stress.
Just as what we eat affects how we breathe, there is another correlation, and that is how we react to stressors is linked closely to how we normally breathe. If we usually breathe very gently and quietly we invariably are calm, if we are habitually hyperventilating or over-breathing we are usually stressed. We all have been told to breathe slowly and gently when we have been stressed. So in fact we have these three activities very closely linked; if we improve one, the others will improve. If we learn to improve all three, our health, wellbeing and immune system will all improve, and we shall be better able to respond to any infection.
This podcast of Better Breathing Means Better Health will have given you an insight into how you may teach yourself to breathe better and in doing so you will be taking better control of your stress and you will find the way you eat will improve.
To deal with the nutritional side of this question you may want to listen to my podcast entitled the World's Finest Diet, which guides you how to improve your diet, thereby improving your health and boosting your immune system this way.
Alternatively you may take on my Skype training course entitled the Skype Lifestyle Training Course that incorporates these major factors. Details of this may be obtained on my website: www.totalhealthmatters.co.uk
Observed relationship between Dietary Status & Breathing Status
Dietary status was based on the 4LeafSurvey that estimates the %age of calories derived from Whole Plant Foods and the Breathing status is based on the Buteyko Control Pause that estimates the %age of carbon dioxide in the lungs or degree of oxygenation of the body.
The 4LeafSurvey scores range from -44 to +44, the Control Pause ranges from 5 to 60 seconds for most of the population.
4LeafSurvey Score (X)
Control Pause Score (Y)
70% CP Range
-44
12
5 to 19
-40
13
6 to 20
-35
15
8 to 22
-30
16
9 to 23
-25
18
11 to 25
-20
19
12 to 26
-15
21
14 to 28
-10
22
15 to 29
-5
24
17 to 31
0
25
18 to 32
5
27
20 to 34
10
28
21 to 35
15
30
23 to 37
20
31
24 to 38
25
33
26 to 40
30
34
27 to 41
35
36
29 to 43
40
37
30 to 44
44
38
31 to 45
Michael Lingard BSc. DO.WPNutCert. 28/3/2020
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**Episode # 15 General Health Questions **
Hi, this is Michael Lingard, your Buteyko Educator, welcoming you to the final episode of Better Breathing Means Better Health and offering you my congratulations on completing this course. You now have the understanding and tools to continue improving your breathing and health in the future.
Just to remind you of the powerful impact on your health that improved breathing will have, you can download leaflets on the subjects covered below:
If you don’t have access while listening to this podcast, go to my website HERE where you will be able to download them there.Circulation & Heart Disease (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
Lowered CO2 because of hyperventilation constricts the arteries throughout the body, lowered CO2 impairs the release of oxygen from your blood and mouth breathing rather than nose breathing reduces the production of nitric oxide.
The effect of the above is to put more physical stress on the heart that now needs to pump more blood around the body to deliver the same amount of oxygen, with narrowed arteries due to smooth muscle spasm and lower nitric oxide levels this means the blood pressure has to be higher leading to further stress on the heart.Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & ME (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
With chronic over-breathing the oxygenation of all the tissue in the body is depleted, this will impair the muscle functioning strength and also reduce the oxygen getting to the brain. The latter effect is made worse by the fact that the body protects the vital areas of the brain by shunting more blood to these centres leaving even less oxygen for higher centres of the brain. Resulting in mental as well as physical tiredness.COPD & Emphysema (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
Both these conditions are associated with loss of healthy functioning lung tissue that causes severe breathlessness and restricted physical activity. Invariably patients will be over-breathing in an attempt to combat the sensation of breathlessness but as we now understand this will worsen the oxygenation of the body. By improving their breathing, eliminating hyperventilation, what healthy lung tissue remaining will deliver more effective oxygenation of the body.Gut & Bladder Problems and IBS (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
We have all experienced how stress can upset our gut, hence when we improve our breathing and reduce the ill effects of stress it benefits our gut. As you know, over-breathing with loss of carbon dioxide, causes spasm of all smooth muscle in the body and that includes the muscle around your stomach, intestines and other hollow organs. Improve breathing is always beneficial to all gut and bladder problems. Watch this short video of a recent client's response to the breath training HEREStress Anxiety & Panic Attacks (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
As you now realize, stress leads to over-breathing, repeated stressors lead to chronic hyperventilation, what every person suffering anxiety will have. As explained before this impairs oxygenation of the body and in particular the brain suffers from this lowered oxygen supply. If the control pause falls into the lower teens this can trigger a panic attack that is usually accompanied by increased panting or gasping that further worsens the situation. Improved breathing protects against this.Asthma, Sinusitis, Hay Fever & Rhinitis (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
If the Buteyko Method is renown for its dramatic health benefits and been proven with many clinical trials , it is with the support and management of asthma. If you are particularly interested in this condition I would strongly recommend you watch a YouTube video production by the BBC that covers a small trial conducted under the supervision of a leading respiratory specialist in Edinburgh HERE. and the first hand story of a recent asthma client HERESports Performance & Breath Training (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
It is not rocket science to suggest that any improved oxygenation to your body will improve your sports performance and general fitness. Many leading world athletes and sports people have used the Buteyko Method to give themselves that critical small percentage improvement that is the difference between winning or losing. Their general health has also improved as a side-effect!Insomnia, Snoring and Sleep Apnoea (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
Over-breathing usually is worse at night when asleep, largely because you are not using much muscle activity, hence lower carbon dioxide production but still over-breathing as during your waking hours, so carbon dioxide levels fall dangerously low. This can lead to sleep disturbances, nightmares with children or if more severe sleep apnoea. Sleep apnoea is a serious problem that can predispose to heart problems. However, the repeated cessation of breathing associated with sleep apnoea is the body’s protection against the severe loss of carbon dioxide. The solution is to improve your breathing 24/7.Eczema, Allergies and Itchy Skin (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
The skin is the largest organ in our body, it requires a good blood supply for normal health and is susceptible to allergens that come in contact or are taken in. Chronic hyperventilation hits the skin two ways, it receives poor blood supply and histamine levels rise as stress pushes our breathing up. The combination paves the way for eczema, allergies and skin disorders. Food sensitivities may well be an important component but you now have the means of checking this as explained in episode seven.Orthodontic, Dental Problems & Gum Disease (Download a pdf leaflet HERE)
This is perhaps the most difficult relationship to understand. How can dysfunctional breathing lead to major structural problems in our development of teeth and all the structures of our skull? There is strong evidence that children that habitually mouth breathe will develop orthodontic problems such as crowded teeth as well as poor facial features. If you want a detailed professional explanation of this I suggest you watch a video by Dr. John Flutter HERE.If you have enjoyed this podcast why not check out my general health promoting podcast entitled “Your Health in Your Hands”? HERE
Eat Less, Sleep less, Breathe Less and Exercise More!
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**Episode # 14 Some Important Points **
Hi, this is Michael Lingard, your Buteyko Educator, welcoming you to episode 14 and offering you my congratulations on completing this course. You now have the understanding and tools to continue improving your breathing and health in the future.
Chronic Hidden Hyperventilation is a serious condition and as such safety is paramount with the management of this condition. This final episode will highlight areas that you should take particular care over and remember that this course is a general presentation and each individual is unique. No responsibility can be taken for any adverse reactions to the training or your failure to follow the safety recommendations given; always, if in doubt, consult your doctor, or your own Buteyko Educator for advice.
You are recommended to check all the following important points now and from time to time in the future to ensure you are following best practice of the Buteyko Method.
Under no circumstances should you throw away any prescribed medications without consulting your doctor.
For at least the next twelve months always carry your medication with you and use it if necessary.Prevent or overcome tightness, wheezing, coughing or shortness of breath by first using the Buteyko Method (Control Pause or Extended Pause followed by Reduced Breathing) and if this does not help, use your prescribed medication. As soon as possible after taking it, do the Reduced Breathing exercises.
Steroid reduction should be discussed with your doctor. When it takes place, it should be a very gradual process - no faster than one puff reduced every seven days and reducing all morning steroids doses first. At the first sign of reaction (accelerated pulse or lowered control pause) then your steroids should be restored to previous dosage. For example, if you start with two puffs night and morning and after cutting out both morning puffs you get worse, then restore one puff in the morning. If this is still not controlling your condition then restore the second morning puff and do not reduce them again until you are stable and your doctor says that it is safe to continue with the reduction.
In the early stages of your training maintain nose breathing at all times, especially when faced with factors that usually cause you breathing trouble. If your nose is blocked use the Nose Clearing exercises to unblock it. The most common of factors causing over-breathing are: physical exercise, emotional situations, yelling/shouting, chemical or paint vapours, smoky environments, going out into cold air, alcohol, over-eating and over-sleeping.
Adults should keep in mind the importance of the Reduced Breathing exercise. If you must do any deep breathing, for example while playing sport or laughing/crying, then as soon as possible do some Buteyko exercises to return breathing to normal.
For most people, the usually the first sign that your breathing is worsening is either a stuffy nose, broken sleep patterns, waking up more tired in the morning than usual or noticing your morning control pause falling day after day. Always sleep on your side (or stomach for adults). Whenever you notice the early warning signs, increase your Buteyko exercise regime.
We recommend that you continue to tape your mouth while sleeping for at least six months. If you wish to stop doing this, then use the Control Pause and pulse to test your breathing while you sleep for a minimum of ten days.
Keep off all the foods that increase your breathing rate when you are suffering from breathing difficulties. These include: chocolate, milk, cottage cheese, yoghurt, ice-cream, nuts, honey, chicken/fish/beef stock, strawberries, raspberries, coffee, strong tea, and alcohol or any other foods you have noticed cause you to wheeze. Refer back to episode seven if in doubt.
Easily digested proteins increase hyperventilation more than other foods, so if you suspect that your condition is deteriorating then avoid these foods. If you must eat protein at this time then try to eat only unrefined vegetable protein.
Viruses are a stress on the body and therefore increase the breathing rate, so it is vital to minimize other stresses at this time. When a virus strikes: increase your Buteyko exercise sessions to at least 9 sets a day; take medication if necessary; reduce food intake; avoid foods that increase the breathing rate; avoid known allergens; rest more but sleep less; drink lots of clear fluids, water is best; keep warm but don't get over-heated.
The pulse and control pause give a reliable indicator of how your breathing is for adults, the aim being to maintain an early morning control pause of approximately 45 seconds. When the Control pause increases then your condition is improving, when it decreases your condition is deteriorating and there is a greater chance of an health problems. If it should get less than 7 seconds seek medical attention immediately.
The pulse and Step exercise are the meter for children, with the aim being to maintain an early morning number of steps of at least 80. When the number of steps increases the condition is improving and there is less likelihood of an health problems. When the number of steps decreases, then the condition is deteriorating. If the number get less than 15 steps, seek medical attention immediately
Ideally do nine sets of breathing exercises a day until your condition is totally under control. This usually means that your early morning control pause is consistently between 45 and 60 seconds for adults or between 80 and 100 steps for children. Then do six sets a day for one week. Provided there is no deterioration in your condition, continue to reduce the exercises by one set each week until you are down to one or two sets a day. Even with no symptoms, it is advisable to check your condition every morning on waking because any continued stress will alter your breathing negatively, and you may not be aware of it unless you check.
Should your need for drug intake increase significantly or your condition become less than well controlled then that is the time to contact your Buteyko Educator or your medical practitioner.
The five main problems people have with using Buteyko are:
a. Not putting in the initial effort required to change their automatic breathing pattern.
b. Not being aware of their breathing, and consequently breathing through their mouth while talking and exercising.
c. No longer monitoring their condition every morning before breakfast.
d. Watching their Control pause or the number of steps fall every morning and not doing anything about it.
e. Not telephoning their Buteyko Educator or doctor when being confused about using the Buteyko Method.
f. You are advised to seek help or advice from a trained Buteyko Educator should you have any questions about the Buteyko Method.Finally congratulations on completing this course and remember:
Eat Less, Sleep less, Breathe Less and Exercise More!The next and last episode gives a brief explanation as to how breathing affects the most common problem areas and deals with some of the health questions that patients have asked in the past.
If you have found this course useful please pass on the good news to friends and relatives, remember Professor Buteyko hoped his work would spread across the world to improve everyone’s health, you can help do this.
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**Episode # 13 Stopping Buteyko Exercises & Taping **
Hi, welcome to episode thirteen of Better Breathing Means Better Health. I hope by now you are really making progress and feeling the benefits of better breathing. One of the great attractions of the Buteyko Method breath training is that people don’t need to carry on doing exercises indefinitely, but once their carbon dioxide receptors have been re-set and they are achieving good control pauses of 35 to 45 seconds all the time, then they can begin to reduce their exercises and eventually stop them altogether.
So at some time in the future you will have established a new habit of breathing normally, you will have a morning control pause of over thirty-five and will often achieve control pauses of over forty. You will have achieved ideal breathing when your control pause is between forty-five and sixty seconds.
How quickly you get to these levels depends on many factors: how bad your breathing was, how many exercises you have been doing each day (the more, the faster you change your breathing pattern), whether you are going through a stressful time, whether you are getting enough physical exercise (walking is perhaps the safest), whether your diet is helping with your breathing (listen to episode seven again), whether you are only nose breathing, even when talking and sleeping, and a few more points need to be considered. Every one is different and this is why face to face training by a Buteyko Educator is by far the best and fasted way of getting good results.
You will get a check-list in episode 14 that you can refer to if your progress isn’t as great as you’d like.
Assuming you have reached the thirty-five plus control pause, you can start reducing the number of exercises you do each day, progressively, until you are only doing an exercise if and when your control pause drops off. Remember to keep measuring your morning control pause regardless because this is your early warning system should your condition begin to deteriorate at any time. It takes under a minute so there is no reason to drop this essential safety measure.
If you have been using tape to stop you mouth breathing in your sleep you may by now have broken the bad habit of mouth breathing when asleep. You can test yourself very simply; take your control pause just before going to sleep, do not tape your mouth and check your control pause when you wake up in the morning. If your control pause has not fallen during the night it means you have not been mouth breathing in your sleep. If however your control pause has fallen by ten or more seconds you need to carry on taping at night for a little longer. The other indicator is you will probably have a dry mouth if you have been mouth breathing.
Some people I have trained prefer to maintain the taping as it gives then better sleep and they don’t have to worry about mouth breathing or snoring in their sleep.
Remember you have been on a major health promoting journey by improving your breathing. In the East breathing is central to all health care systems. Here in the West over-breathing or chronic hidden hyperventilation is almost an epidemic, with over 75% of people breathing badly and suffering from, according to Professor Buteyko, over a hundred modern diseases because of this bad habit. If you want to learn more about the profound effect on our health generally of over-breathing you could watch my video on YouTube entitled “Chronic Hidden Hyperventilation 21st Century Epidemic” HERE
The next episode will cover a revision of the most important points and advice on when to see your doctor if your symptoms begin to return.
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Episode # 10 Sealing the Leaks & Talking Like The Queen
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Hi, welcome to episode ten of Better Breathing Means Better Health entitled Sealing the leaks and Talking Like The Queen.
As you will now know, our breathing is controlled automatically by the level of carbon dioxide in our body. It is a good image to hold in ones mind that our lungs are not just the means to get oxygen for our body but act as reservoirs or tanks of carbon dioxide that need to be kept at just the right level.
Maintaining this image of the lungs as reservoirs or tanks of Carbon Dioxide that help maintain the normal 6% CO2 in our body, we can think of activities that may lead to “leaks” from the tanks. There are many possible reasons for these leaks that may include all those situations when we over-breathe:
• When showering you may gasp as the water hits you
• Most strong emotional states can lead to over-breathing
• The act of bending to put shoes on can push out air
• Getting over hot or too cold may increase breathing
• Over concentration
• Stress at work
• Reading aloud and mouth breathing
• Smoking
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Laughing
• Yawning
• Sighing, remember the old adage “Sigh a little, die a lttle”!
• Whistling
• Talking and mouth breathing rather than nose breathing
• Over-eating
• Brushing your teeth; an opportunity to mouth breathe as your mouth is open
• Mouth breathing while eating and drinkingIncreasing awareness of your breathing will protect you from most of the above leaks but you will, we hope, want to laugh occasionally! So there are two things to note, firstly if your breathing is normal and you have a Control Pause of 45-60 seconds you have a large “buffer” of Carbon dioxide, and the occasional burst of laughing or emotional upset will not give you any problems, as soon afterwards, your Carbon dioxide levels will return to normal, but if your CP is around twenty seconds normally, any of these brief events of over-breathing can lower your carbon dioxide levels to trigger problems.
It is not unknown for a child with asthma to have a sudden attack when giggling and laughing at a party due to this effect or a person suffering from anxiety to have a panic attack after a bout of coughing.However there is an instant solution to those moments of brief over-breathing and that is to immediately do a Mini Pause as explained in episode six. Remember; breathe in and our of your nose and pause your breath for 3 to 5 seconds, return to nose breathing then repeat as necessary.
Use the Mini Pause after coughing, sneezing, yawning or sighing
Use it to reduce night time nasal congestion that occurs during sleep by doing it many times for 10-15 minutes before going to sleep.
Use the Mini Pause to help boost your immune system when you feel the onset of an infection or sore throat
The effect of this very short breath hold is to quickly raise your carbon dioxide levels.
The explanation behind the immune system boost comes from the reversal of the reactions of the “Fight or Flight” effects, where breathing is increased and the immune system is suppressed. Here you are reducing the breathing and stimulating the immune system. This is a reversal of the stressor response.Now to explain a little about “Talking Like The Queen”
The Buteyko Method was first introduced by Professor Buteyko into Australia, and when he taught the necessity to only nose-breathing when talking, his Australian students commented “ Oh! You mean like we see the Queen talking in her Christmas message. She never seems to breathe through her mouth when she talks!” The expression has stuck since then.
So here is your next training challenge. Find a few minutes each day to read aloud from a newspaper or book and follow these instructions. Begin with a breath in through your nose, not your mouth, continue reading until you see a comma or full stop, close your mouth and breathe in through your nose. Return to reading until the next comma or full stop that reminds you to take a breath in through your nose and to close your mouth. If you hit a long sentence you may want to take a breath half way, close your mouth and take a breath in through your nose in the same way.
At first this may feel very strange and can be quite difficult but with practice this way of reading will become normal and easy. Then you need to use the same approach to your breathing when you are speaking at any time.
For some people mouth breathing while talking can be their major problem and the main reason for their chronic hidden hyperventilation.
This may be particularly true for teachers, lecturers, radio commentators,
Sales people and any people who need to talk a lot in their work.
You could watch weather forecasters on the television and see that many of them make this mistake because they need to read a lot of material in a very short time and recently a presenter collapsed on live television because of this effect.
One of the advantages of talking this way is that it makes it far easier for listeners to understand you. Those brief pauses as you take a breath allows the listener time to take in what you have just said.Practice this over the coming weeks. The next episode will be about sleep and taping. You are doing well and are over half-way through the training already, keep it up.
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Better Breathing Means Better Health Episode # 12 When You Are Ill
With the best will in the world and despite your greatest care, it is still possible that you might fall ill at some stage, with a bad dose of a cold, some random infection or just be run down.
When you are ill you are more liable to over-breathe and your Control Pause may fall & your pulse rate may rise. All infections are stressors, whether flu, a common cold or viral infection. So how can you combat the adverse effect on your breathing and how can you recover more quickly?
There are many ways you can help yourself, some may be common sense but others may be new to you.Firstly don’t add more stress during these times;
Don’t over-eat, avoid foods on the problem food list, eat less and even cut out a meal.Don’t over-sleep, try sleeping 1 to 11/2 hours less, since sleep is the body’s time for repair the ravages of the day, and if you have been inactive you will need less sleep. If your control pause is still low it makes sense to wake your-self up after four hours.Don’t do extra physical exercises, try to conserve your energy.Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. Water is best, and according to a world leading expert on hydration most of us do not drink enough water. The rough guide to your ideal daily water consumption is equivalent to your weight in kilograms as fluid ounces, or divide your weight in pounds by two to give you the number of fluid ounces you need to drink per day.Rest more but don’t sleep more.Avoid extremes of hot or cold rooms, as both extremes will encourage over-breathing.Make sure you breathe through your nose, even use a nasal spray if your
nose clearing exercises are not enough.Do more Buteyko exercises, up to nine a day, especially if you are resting in bed you will have the time.Do Mini Pauses, 100 a day will help keep your breathing in order and will also boost your immune system as discussed in episode six.Avoid the usual cold remedies that dry up mucus, they don’t deal with the underlying infection problem.Now you are skilled at measuring your Control Pause and Pulse you have an early warning system that can forecast if you are heading for a cold or other infection.
Be aware of some of the warning signs
You will notice early warning signs before getting ill, they may include:
Your Control Pause starts falling and pulse starts rising.You start using upper chest for breathing rather than your diaphragmThe nose starts getting blocked more frequently.You start feeling extra tired for no good reason.You may start pressing under your nose.You may get glassy red eyes.You begin breathing through your mouth more.You may start getting disturbed sleep patterns.You may find yourself yawning excessively throughout the day.You may get dark rings around your eyes.A persistent dry cough may be noticed, there are three exercises that can help.The first exercise to try is as follows: after a normal breath out, hold your breath for a count of ten. Then take twenty small, silent breaths through your nose, about one second in then one second out. Then breathe normally in and out through your nose once and repeat from the start.
The second exercise is as follows:
At the first sign of a tickling feeling of a dry cough.
Stop.
Put your hand over your mouth
Take a small breath in and out through your nose, pinch your nose and hold your breath for as long as comfortable.
Release your nose but keep your hand over your mouth.
Breathe small careful breaths through your nose for thirty seconds, all the time resisting the urge to cough.
Take a slow steady quiet breath in and out through your nose.
Repeat the practice twice more or until the tickle has subsided.The third exercise is very simple. With your mouth closed, breathe out fully through your nose to totally “empty “ your lungs, hold your breath for five seconds then breathe in gently through your nose.
Probably one of the most important warning signs is a falling Morning Control
Pause, day after day. This is because the Morning Control Pause is the most
reliable measure of your current breathing rate at rest. After sleep and before
breakfast you have not been subjected to all the usual stresses that can change
your normal breathing pattern. Your first morning Control Pause measure will give you a fair idea of how you are going to feel during the day. Obviously if it is lower than normal it is a good idea to do an exercise or two early in the day to bring your breathing back to normal.The next episode will deal with how to reduce and eliminate all exercises safely,
this is the great aspect of the Buteyko Breath Training, that once you have restored good breathing your body will automatically continue breathing normally. -
Episode # 11 Posture, Sleep, and Taping.
Hi, this is Michael Lingard welcoming you to Better Breathing Means Better Health, episode eleven, entitled Posture, Sleep and Taping.
I hope you are finding this course already helping with your general health and that the work you have put in so far beginning to pay off as you feel more in control of your health and perhaps experiencing more energy, better sleep and fewer symptoms.
So how does posture affect our breathing? The raised shoulders, expanded chest and tense upper muscles are to be seen on most patients who normally over-breathe.
With habitual heavy breathing these ancillary respiratory muscles need to be used repeatedly and they become chronically tense with over-use.
We should breathe primarily with just our diaphragm, the large dome shaped muscle under our lower ribs, and we should not normally use the upper chest for normal activity breathing.During Buteyko training the effects of different postures on our breathing, when awake and asleep are discussed, based on Professor Buteyko’s research.
He found that sleeping on our left side reduced breathing at night the most, sleeping on the right side or stomach was almost as good for our breathing, but sleeping on the back invariably increased the breathing rate.
So try to avoid sleeping on your back as this has been clearly demonstrated to
lead to over-breathing in sleep and often also mouth breathing since the lower jaw easily drops when on our back. This is usually the sleep position when snoring is at its worst.
Sleeping on the left side was found to reduce breathing the most, on the right side or front was found to keep breathing rate lower than when sleeping on the back.When sitting try to keep the back upright and the diaphragm free to move easily, avoid slouching and restricting the lower ribs and abdomen. Good posture is just part of the many elements taught on a Buteyko course. Good posture permits normal body action and in particular aids better breathing. Improving your posture is part of the bad habit correction. Improved posture will also improve the overall physiology of your body.
There are various ways you can train yourself to avoid sleeping on your back and one is to attach a cork or small ball to the back of your pyjama top, whenever you roll onto your back this will painfully remind you to go onto your side or stomach!
Obviously during your waking hours you will by now be very aware of how you are breathing but when you are asleep you are no longer in control of your breathing.
One of the commonest bad habits when sleeping is mouth breathing and snoring.
If you awake in the morning with a dry mouth, the chances are is that you have been mouth breathing in your sleep. If you snore you almost certainly have been mouth breathing. So how do we stop this when we are unconscious?
The simplest solution is to use a thin strip of micropore adhesive tape as used to secure dressings.
You can use one centimeter wide tape, tear off about 10 centimetres, fold over one end, it's a good idea to reduce some of the stickiness by pressing it on your bedclothes a couple of times then place it diagonally across your mouth. You will still be able to talk and breathe through the corners of your mouth but it will remind you to keep your mouth closed. When you get used to using the tape this way you may need to begin to place it horizontally across your mouth to ensure you do keep your mouth totally closed.
Don’t forget to make sure your nose is clear before going to sleep by doing the nose clearing exercises if you need to.
Many people have found this simple procedure has stopped them from snoring and that they have the best sleep ever.The next episode 12 will be about When You Are Ill. If you haven’t yet downloaded the book to accompany this course entitled “The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard, you can view it or buy it
From Lulu.com HERE -
Episode # 9 Anti-Hyperventilation Exercises
Hi, this is Michael Lingard welcoming you to episode nine of Better Breathing Means Better Health.
With the best will in the world, every now and again you may find your breathing is getting out of control. This may happen at times of severe stress, when ill or after some trauma. Wouldn’t it be useful to have a simple exercise that you could rely on to bring your breathing back to normal? This is the job of the three anti-hyperventilation exercises I shall tell you about now.The first one is particularly useful as you can do this anywhere, at home, at work or even in company and people will not realize you are doing it.
The concept behind this exercise is that when we start to over-breathe or hyperventilate , the gap between breathing out and breathing our next breath in, gets very small or sometimes nil, so this exercise teaches you how to reintroduce this essential gap.
Breathe in and out through your nose two times then pause your breath for a count of two in your head.
Repeat this again.Breathe in and out through your nose two times, pause your breath for a count of three in your head.
Repeat this again.Breathe in and out through your nose two times, pause your breath for a count of four in your head.
Repeat this again.Repeat this each time increasing the pause up to a count of ten or as close as you can comfortably manage , then repeat the exercises but reducing the pause each time .
Breathe in and out through your nose two times, pause your breath for a count of nine in your head.
Repeat this again.Breathe in and out through your nose two times, pause your breath for a count of eight in your head.
Repeat this again.Continue this way until you have reduced the pause to a count of two.
Follow this with five minutes of reduced breathing if you are an asthma sufferer.
This exercise is called the “Rescue Exercise”.
Use it when feeling tight-chested, when you need help getting off to sleep, when recovering from physical exercise, for mild claustrophobia, for overcoming an asthma attack on waking, before doing your Buteyko exercises when you don’t feel ready to do them, whenever your breathing is too fast or too deep or for when going into an anxiety-provoking situation.Practice this exercise so that when you need it you will find it easier to do.
The second Anti-hyperventilation exercise is more mechanical as you will need a watch with a second-hand to do it.
Breathe in for two seconds, breathe out for three seconds then pause your breath for two seconds.
Repeat this.Breathe in for two seconds, breathe out for three seconds then pause your breath for three seconds.
Repeat this.Breathe in for two seconds, breathe out for three seconds then pause your breath for four seconds.
Repeat this.
And so on until you get to a pause of six seconds for a panic attack situation or up to ten seconds for asthma if possible, then reverse the exercise each time reducing the pause until you are back to a two second pause.This exercise is useful for overcoming hyperventilation attacks but not for asthma when your breathing is excessively fast, to help getting a child off to sleep when the parent gives the instructions, for dealing with anticipated stress or for an adult to calm an upset child.
The third Anti-hyperventilation exercise is similar to the step exercises you learnt about in the last episode.
Walk for perhaps three steps while pausing the breathing, breathe in and out through your nose twice.
Walk for five steps while pausing your breathing, breathe in and out through the nose twice,
Walk for eight steps while pausing your breathing, breathe in and out through the nose twice,
Repeat this until you pause your breathing for up to twenty or thirty steps and you are feeling calm, then take the exercise backwards.
You are walking all the time whether pausing your breathing or taking breaths.
This exercise can be used for: warm up or warm down at sport, for getting out of a place with irritating fumes or odours, to overcome an asthma attack on waking, or for going into an anxiety-provoking situation that may cause you to panic.
Always adjust these exercises to suit yourself and the situation. A person with emphysema may have to breathe three or four times between pauses and the pauses may be for very short counts of one or two repeated more often. A person with anxiety may only be able to achieve a breath hold of five seconds for example; in this case they should stay on a maximum of five seconds till they feel comfortable going higher.
Do not stop these exercises on the high pause count, always return to the shortest pause. Stopping on the longest pause may set off hyperventilation again.Remember these exercises are reviewed in my book “The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health”, view it or buy it HERE.
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Episode # 8 Step Exercises & The Extended Pause
Hi, this is episode eight of Better Breathing Means Better Health, entitled “Step Exercises and The Extended Pause”.
As part of your breath retraining wouldn't it be good if you could speed up your breath training while out for a walk or while walking to work each day? Well this is exactly what the step exercise allows you to do.
Remember what we are trying to achieve is a change in your breathing through a re-setting of your carbon dioxide receptors in your body that control your rate of breathing. For everyone who is over-breathing habitually their receptors are trying to maintain a lower level of carbon dioxide than is normal and healthy. The Buteyko exercises you have been doing have been gradually accustoming these receptors to accept a higher level of carbon dioxide through relaxation and perhaps reduced breathing with the accompanying slight “air hunger”.
If we could apply more pressure on your receptors to get used to a higher level of carbon dioxide, that would speed up your recovery of normal breathing and reduce all your symptoms. Step Exercises do just that.
Very simply, next time you are out walking, firstly remember to only breathe through your nose and pace yourself so that you can, even when going uphill. When you are ready, just hold your breath on an out-breath and see how many steps you can do before you feel the need to breathe in, counting in your head, then breathe in through your nose and continue on your way until you feel your breathing is comfortable again, then you can repeat this step counting with another breath hold after exhaling. Try to steadily increase your count each time, each time returning to normal nose breathing as you walk.
This is a very powerful exercise that will speed up your progress. You may find the next time you do your Buteyko exercise after such a walk your Control Pause will have increased notably.This, in fact, is the main exercise that children are taught when leaning the Buteyko Method, there is a rough conversion rate of steps compared with the Control Pause, divide the number of steps you can achieve with a breath hold after exhaling by two should equal your control pause, many children achieve up to 100 or more steps by the time their breathing is back to normal which would be the equivalent to a Control Pause of over 50 seconds.
The second subject in this episode is the Extended Pause. This is of particular importance for asthmatics trying to reduce the use of their reliever medication but can be used by others in certain circumstances. If you are asthmatic, the next time you feel you need to reach out for your reliever puffer, because you feel wheezy or tight chested, try to first relax, breathe in gently then out and hold your breath a little longer than you would for a control pause, until you feel the need to breathe in, quite strongly, then breathe in gently through your nose followed by a minute of relaxed breathing. Then breathe in and out gently and hold your breath again for an extended pause as before, if after another minute of relaxed breathing you still feel you need to use your inhaler, take one puff followed by two minutes of reduced breathing.
Most asthmatics find that more times than not, this simple exercise is effective and they can avoid using their reliever. This is a great achievement, to become less reliant on always having to use the puffer. Initially you may still need the reliever but with time you will find the extended pause followed by a short period of gentle reduced breathing will replace your puffer except in extreme situations. When you do use your reliever remember to follow with a few minutes of reduced breathing as the reliever medication does open up the airways but also increases your breathing rate.
The effect of the Extended Pause is to rapidly increase the carbon dioxide levels in your body. If you find this exercise in any way distressing do not use it.
Try both these new exercises out over the coming days until the next episode when I will introduce you to three exercises you may use when you feel your breathing has begun to get worse for whatever reason, these exercises are the three Anti-Hyperventilation Exercises.Remember you can revise on most of the information taught in these episodes in the accompanying book “The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing and Better Health” you may have already, if not click HERE to read about it or to buy it.
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Episode # 7. Food and Your Breathing
Hi, welcome to episode seven that is all about food and your breathing.
Professor Buteyko included advice on diet for people learning to improve their breathing. He found that a number of common foods tended to increase the patient’s breathing rate; they included dairy food such as cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream and milk; stimulants such as strong tea, coke, coffee, alcohol and cocoa; other foods such as chocolate, honey, raspberries, strawberries, fish, chicken, nuts and beef, chicken or fish stock. However, when this research was conducted in Russia, the diet of most people was much simpler than today’s Western diet. In the West today our consumption of meat, dairy and processed foods is far greater and the link between our food and our breathing has become much more important.My research over the past two years has led me to believe there is a strong relationship between our diet and our breathing.
Chronic hidden hyperventilation is related to stress, diet and bad breathing habits, but diet appears to be a major factor, perhaps because a stressful lifestyle usually leads to bad eating habits, as well as directly affecting breathing due to the fight/flight responses to stressors.
I believe this is so important that I have advised all Buteyko Educators to screen their patients for diet before teaching them to improve their breathing.
I use a simple screening method that is well established and used by many doctors in the USA called the “4LeafSurvey”. It is based on just twelve questions about your normal eating habits and will give you a good estimate of the percentage calories you are getting from whole plant foods as opposed to meat, dairy and other foods.
I would strongly advise you to check your diet this way. You can do this online at www.4LeafSurvey.com. [HERE ](http://
www.4leafsurvey.com)
I have included in the notes that go with this episode a table that shows the range of Control Pause associated with the 4LeafSurvey Score:
4LeafSurvey Score..........Range of Control Pause
-40 to -30 ......................... 10 to 22
-30 to -20......................... 12 to 25
-20 to -10 ......................... .15 to 27
-10 to 0 ......................... ..17 to 30
0 to 10 ......................... 20 to 33
10 to 20 ......................... 23 to 35
20 to 30 ......................... 25 to 38
30 to 40 ....................... 28 to 40Note: Asthmatics will usually have a lower control pause than indicated in the table above simply because of their condition.
The good news is that as you improve your breathing you will also begin to improve your diet. The reverse is also true and anyone wanting to improve their diet to help improve their breathing should check out my website TotalHealthMatters HERE
Initially the key foods that seem to worsen our breathing are all dairy foods, excessive amounts of animal based foods and refined processed foods as well as sugary drinks or any drinks containing caffein.
You can test whether any food has an adverse effect on your breathing and health using the Control Pause as a measuring tool.
You can test for an allergic reaction or food intolerance reaction by taking your control pause, eating a small amount of the food to be tested, then after waiting a few minutes re-check your control pause and twenty minutes later again check your control pause. If the control pause stays unchanged then this food is unlikely to be a problem for you, if your control pause falls by over five seconds after just a few minutes this food may be giving you an allergic reaction but if there is no change until twenty minutes have passed and then your control pause has dropped by over five seconds, you may have a food intolerance to this food. You can also use your pulse to confirm these findings when a significantly raised pulse after just minutes would confirm a allergic reaction and no change until after twenty minutes would confirm a food intolerance.
It is of interest to note that the early discoveries about food allergy by a Dr. Richard Mackarness was based on the pulse test; the control pause offers an even more sensitive testing system.The next episode will be about Step Exercises and the Extended Pause.
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Episode # 6 Checking Your Progress & The Mini Pause
Hi, Welcome to podcast episode six of Better Breathing Means Better Health. We shall be checking your progress and introducing the Mini Pause.
By now you will have probably done a few Buteyko Exercises and recorded them on a worksheet or in the Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health. In the last lesson I suggested you plot the average of each start Control Pause and end Control Pause.You will find your control pause will vary from day to day and also during the day depending on many things, so don’t be surprised if some days your exercises are not as good as you expected, what we are looking for is a slow steady improvement. This will always come if you persevere.
You may improve your control pause by just a few seconds each time you do an exercise, perhaps increasing it by 3 to 5 seconds from start to finish but usually you will find by the time you do your next exercise your control pause will have dropped a little, this is normal.
There are many ways of reducing this effect. The first thing to try to remember is to keep your mouth closed as you go about your daily routine, breathing only through your nose. Don’t forget to do the nose clearing exercises if your nose gets stuffy.
Just being aware more of how you are breathing will help, if you catch yourself breathing heavily, just take a moment to think “reduced breathing”. This is something you can do throughout the day, anywhere you get delayed, in a supermarket queue, at traffic lights or waiting on the phone, rather than get stressed you can use these moments to do some more reduced breathing.The good news about breath training is that exercises are only needed until your breathing returns to normal, then you can stop doing any exercises and your breathing will continue to be good. This is because what we are doing is re-setting special receptors in the brain that control our rate of breathing. Every person that is over-breathing is doing so because their receptors are telling them to. Once you have changed the receptors they will keep you breathing normally. Curiously our breathing rate is not governed by the oxygen in our body but rather the level of carbon dioxide. Ideally this should be kept at around 5-6% when breathing normally but every person over-breathing will have too low a level of carbon dioxide probably nearer 3-4 % and this is one of the major causes of all their symptoms.
So if your progress is not as fast as you would like you can try an additional simple trick when doing your reduced breathing; just try taking slightly smaller breaths in and breathing out more slowly so that you feel a little “air hunger”. You would like to breathe a little more but it is not stressful or anxiety provoking. What you are doing is pushing against your carbon dioxide receptors, getting them used to accepting a slightly higher carbon dioxide level than they have been used to.
If this is in anyway unpleasant then revert back to just relaxation as the way to do your reduced breathing.Something else you can do to help keep your breathing better between exercises is the Mini Pause. The Mini Pause is exactly what it suggests, a breath hold after exhaling of just 3 to 5 seconds, then return to normal breathing. You can dot Mini Pauses in at any time during the day whenever you think about your breathing and this will help maintain a higher control pause. Some people may do up to a hundred during the day.
Later on in the course we will talk about an exercise you can do when out walking. The next episode will be about food and your breathing
Did you know that what you eat affects the way you breathe and the way you breathe affects how you eat?
If you haven't yet purchased the recommended book for recording your exercises and more background information "Better Breathing Means Better Health" you can check it out or purchase it: HERE -
Episode # 4 Nose Clearing & Your First Buteyko Exercise
Hi, this is Michael Lingard bringing you the fourth episode of Better Breathing Means Better Health entitled “Nose Clearing & Your First Buteyko Exercise”
Perhaps the simplest advice is to try to always breathe through the nose. Why?
Because the nose functions to deliver air to the lungs in as perfect condition as possible.
It makes over-breathing physically more difficult simply because of the smaller size of the nostrils compared with an our large open mouth.
It filters out most of the dust and particulates found in the atmosphere.
It moisturizes the air when it's dry, as in centrally heated rooms, delivering air that doesn't irritate and dry out the delicate membranes of the lungs.
It conserves water and helps reduce the risk of dehydration.
It contains active organisms that trap and destroy many potential infective agents in the air we breathe, protecting the lungs from infection. It is also found to be responsible for the production of up to 50% of nitric oxide in our body when we breathe normally through our nose. Nitric oxide has many vital functions in the body that are still being discovered, we know nitric oxide can dilate blood vessels and improve circulation hence its use for treatment in angina.
When people have not been habitually nose breathing for many years it may take a little time and perseverance to retrain the nose to do the work of breathing it was designed for. A Buteyko Conference I attended in Brisbane a marathon runner told, how with Buteyko Training she had learned to nose breathe throughout the entire marathon and this had improved her performance by doing so. Many Olympic athletes in Australia and New Zealand have undergone Buteyko Training to improve their sports performance, endurance and recovery, so breath training is not just for anyone who is not well but also for those who want super fitness and endurance.What if it is difficult to breathe through the nose?
There is a saying “If you don't use it you lose it!”, this seems to be what many people are found who have difficulty breathing through their nose. However it is the experience of all Buteyko Educators that with specific exercises and perseverance practically everyone can relearn to nose breathe easily. Whether there is a history of chronic catarrh, deviation of the nasal septum, polyps, old injury or any other condition, everyone can improve their ability to nose breathe. Two simple exercises are taught to help regain normal nose breathing capabilities.
Nose clearing exercise number one. On a normal out-breath, hold your nose and keep the mouth shut, and nod the head forward and backwards about eight times gently, then released the nose and breathe gently through the nose, always keeping the mouth shut. Repeating this up to 3 times will clear most stuffy noses and mild blockages. You may need to repeat this procedure a number of times in the first few days until the nose remains clear.
Note clearing exercise number two.
This is similar to the first exercise but more effective when the congestion or blockages are more severe and long-standing.
On an out-breath hold your nose, keep the mouth shut and walk as many steps as you can. When you feel the urgent need to breathe, keep your mouth shut, release the nose and breath in gently through the nose. Repeat till the nose becomes clear.
Despite the simplicity of these exercises they have been repeatedly shown to work remarkably well.
Remember, always breathe through your nose it's what it's there for, it’s our beautifully designed breathing tube!Reduced breathing.
Since Professor Buteyko claimed over a hundred common diseases are due to hyperventilation or over-breathing, a substantial part of the full Buteyko course is spent teaching patients how to reduce their breathing.
This is probably the greatest conceptual hurdle for most of us to overcome, and reasonably so! Everyone has been breathing all their lives and we assume we know how to do this; we don’t need to be taught how to walk do we? It is only when we understand the physiology of tissue oxygenation, which is part of this training does it then makes sense that we can still function but can be breathing very badly.
The basic background for most poor breathing is stress or lifestyle factors that cause us to hyperventilate.
Some people require a lot of individual support and help to learn to reduce their breathing and to break often a lifetime's habit of habitual chronic hidden hyperventilation, others find it easier to learn quickly.
At its simplest level the secret is to be totally relaxed, as Professor Buteyko said “Be soft as a cloth”.
When we clench our fist we need more energy hence more oxygen to meet the muscles demand, hence more breathing to provide the oxygen. If all muscles are relaxed, a demand for oxygen goes down and are breathing is reduced. If we then relax our breathing muscle, the diaphragm, breathing is reduced further.
Because some people may initially have unpleasant reactions when they do strong reduced breathing they are carefully monitored during training to avoid this, but if reduced breathing is achieved only through relaxation most people will not suffer any ill effects. There are many tips and techniques which we will give to help people individually with this vital component of training. The long-term aim is to alter our breathing habits so that all our breathing becomes “reduced breathing” or in other words we return to normal breathing. At this stage further exercises are unnecessary. Thus reduce breathing exercise are a short-term training and become unnecessary when normal breathing is restored as the new habit.
So how do we get so bad?
Apparently man was not the hunter but the prey and our survival depended on fast reactions to danger, the fight or flight reflex evolved that was life-saving for our ancestors but is a potential health hazard for us today. Repeated stressors for modern man with little or no physical activity, leads to raise heart rate, increased breathing, increased blood directed to muscles increase clotting of blood, reduced immune system activity, increased sweating, and increase histamine production.
Our body gets locked into a state of anxiety, our carbon dioxide receptors get used to this low level of carbon dioxide and our over-breathing is maintained. We become hidden chronic hyperventilators. There are two possible reasons that seem to make sense in the West, we are subjected to recurrent stressors from an early age and there is a culture of deep-breathing. It is primarily the recurrent stressors that leads to a chronic hidden hyperventilation but also because Western man has developed a culture of over-breathing; we are encouraged to breathe deeply when we are children, when we are stressed and whenever we take exercise or do keep fit. This is quite the reverse in the East where a perfect man was once judged to breathe “as if not breathing” in other words very softly and quietly.
We can now do our first Buteyko exercise, just record this simplified exercise on any notepad at hand. Write down eight headings across the page.
Control pause, pulse, reduced breathing, control pause, reduced breathing, control pause, pulse.
If you have difficulty finding a pulse on your wrist don't worry at this stage just leave this section blank.
Now check your control pause and record this under the control pause heading, if you can easily find your pulse, count the number of beats in 15 seconds and multiply by 4 to give your pulse rate per minute and record under pulse. Now make yourself comfortable, sitting upright and try to totally relax, close your eyes and try to keep your mind quiet by imagining some pleasant scene in a beautiful sandy shore on an island, a special garden or any picture that keeps your mind occupied quietly. Keep your mouth closed and breathe gently through your nose. Keep reminding yourself to be completely relaxed. If you have a timer set it for three minutes. When the timer rings open your eyes and when you are ready check your control pause again. Record this control pause on your notepad. Now, once again return to relaxation for another three minutes setting the timer as before. When the timer rings wait for about a minute before checking your control pause again and your pulse if you're able. The minute wait is to measure what your breathing is now like after the exercise. If you have been able to relax well you should find that either your end control pause is a little higher than your start control pause or your end pulse is lower than the start pulse. This was your first simple Buteyko exercise. Well done!Remember in preparation for the next episodes and for recording your exercises you should purchase “The Breath Connection – The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard £10.00 from Amazon .co.uk and Lulu.com HERE
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Episode # 3 What’s Your Control Pause & How’s Your Breathing
Hi, this is Michael Lingard bringing you the third episode of Better Breathing Means Better Health entitled “What’s Your Control Pause & How’s Your Breathing”Now you know your control pause, what does it mean and how can you improve on it?
If your control pause was under 10 seconds you are breathing almost 3 to 4 times more than normal and need to try to change this urgently because medicine will not change your breathing, but will simply control symptoms. If you achieved 20 to 25 seconds with your comfortable breath hold, your breathing is about 2 to 3 times more than normal. A control pause of 25 to 35 seconds still means you are over-breathing, almost twice much as you need but you will only have problems when under stress or hit by any of the triggers that make your condition worse.
If your control pauses 35 to 45 seconds it is good for most people, but you will still benefit from improved breathing in many other ways.
It is very unlikely that your control pause was over 45 seconds as this would mean your breathing would be normal, a rare situation for anyone today.
A control pause of 45 to 60 seconds is what we should all try to achieve and this will be the target for this full training course.So just to let you know what the rest of this course will cover I’ll give you an outline of the next episodes.
Already you have been advised to try to always breathe through your nose and not to mouth breathe. However many people find it difficult to nose breathe because it is congested or stuffy, this is in part because they haven't been using their nose in the past, and as the old saying goes “If you don't use it, you lose it!” So the next episode will tell you how to unblock and clear your nose to get it back to perfect working order.
You will learn how to reduce your breathing through relaxation, you will have advice on good posture for better breathing and what is the best way of avoiding over-breathing when asleep.
You will learn how to check your pulse, how to reduce coughing bouts and a later episode will explain how certain foods may cause a problem for people, and you will be given a dietary screening that will help you improve your diet at the same time will improve your breathing.
You will learn how to avoid mouth breathing when talking. Towards the end you will learn about anti-hyperventilation exercises that you will be able to use whenever you feel your breathing is getting out of control, at times of stress or after exercise. You'll be told what danger signs you should be aware of and when to see your doctor.
And finally when you have improved your breathing you will be told how to stop exercises and monitor breathing with just a minute check-up each day. You'll be told about a summary of the Buteyko Method for your doctor to read so that he or she knows what you're doing and can help you on your way. The next episode is entitled “Nose Clearing & Your First Buteyko Exercise”Remember in preparation for the next episodes and for recording your exercises you should purchase “The Breath Connection – The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard £10.00 from Amazon .co.uk and Lulu.com HERE
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Episode # 5 “Getting Started”
Hi! This is Michael Lingard bringing you episode five of “Better Breathing Means Better Health” entitled “Getting Started”.
Now have completed one Buteyko exercise you can begin to do more on a daily basis using the booklet “The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” you should have purchased from Lulu.com by now.
If you don’t have the booklet you can download a worksheet to print off copies from HERETry to do at least one exercise in the morning and perhaps two in the evening, you can choose how long you spend doing the reduced breathing depending on how much time you can spare. If you want a short exercise that will take less than 10 minutes make the reduced breathing just three minutes long each time but if you have time you will get better results with a reduced breathing of five minutes each time giving you an exercise that will take about 15 minutes.
You should find each time you do an exercise your control pause will rise from start to finish, and your pulse will fall or remain unchanged, depending on how far above your normal pulse rate you were at the start of the exercise.
There are a few tips you can note when doing the exercises.
Firstly make sure you are relaxed and undisturbed before beginning an exercise don't try to push your control pause for breath hold to try to increase the control pause, the control pause should always be the maximum comfortable breath hold and should not be in any way stressful.
When doing the reduced breathing there are many ways patients achieve this but it is always through relaxation. Remember to be sitting comfortably feet on the floor, all muscles throughout the body relaxed, eyes closed, mouth closed, only breathing through your nose.
Most people find it helps to visualize some favourite scene, for instance by the sea on the beach or in the garden or by a gentle flowing river. Whatever the scene you use, try to focus on small details there, so as to take your attention away from the daily problems and chores, to quieten your mind.This is not the same as meditation, since you need to keep fully aware of your breathing and relaxation. Some people find listening to certain music can help them relax more. Whatever you choose you will know you have found the right way if your exercises give good results.
I usually suggest plotting the average of the start and end Control Pause. If you use a computer you can do this easily on Microsoft Excel or similar programs, these programs will allow you to add a trend line also. You may decide to monitor your progress this way once a week.
In the next episode we will discuss what to do if you find you are not making progress and not achieving an increasing control pause. I will introduce some simple things you can do during the day that will help improve your breathing habits.
It will help for you to read the sections on reduced breathing in your workbook as suggested before. Remember in preparation for the next episodes and for recording your exercises you should purchase “The Breath Connection – The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard £10.00 from Amazon .co.uk or from Lulu.com HERE
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Episode # 2 “Why Most of Us Need Breath Training”
Hi, this is Michael Lingard bringing you the second episode of Better Breathing Means Better Health entitled “Why Most of Us Need Breath Training”
The fact that you are listening to this second episode tells me you know this is true and that you are wondering whether you could benefit yourself.
I have been teaching the Buteyko Method of breath training for over fifteen years and have been delighted to see what a great help it has been to all those I have taught but it has also been a disappointment to me that this powerful health promoting work has not gained mainstream medical support. There may be many reasons for this lack of interest from the medical establishment and the public at large but two main ones come to my mind.
As regards the medical establishment there is a bias towards disease management and treatment rather than health education and promotion, and with something so radical as this, they demand more scientific research before committing resources or recommending it. We now know that doctors are given little training in health promotion and natural medicine during their years of study and this has now been recognized and efforts are being made to improve this aspect of healthcare. So doctors by and large are reluctant to refer their patients to breath educators. We may also have to wait a long time for more research to be done since most is financed by the pharmaceutical companies who would not want to demonstrate simple breath training and other lifestyle changes could dramatically reduce the need and demand for their drugs.
As regards the public in general I understand it is a lot to expect of them to believe that they need to train themselves how to breathe since they have been doing it ever since birth! They don’t need to have walking or talking lessons so why should they need breathing lessons? The second barrier to acceptance is that they not unreasonably go to their doctor for all advice on health matters, who either doesn't support the idea of breath training or dismisses it as irrelevant. The third barrier in the UK is that we have all become used to the idea that all healthcare is free at point of delivery and Buteyko Breath training is not funded by the NHS but can cost a few hundred pounds and that can be difficult for many people.I decided that perhaps the time had come to use modern communication technology to launch breath training more successfully, hence this free podcast you are now listening to. I hope I can make a small contribution to the growing awareness and use of healthy lifestyle self-help systems.
So let’s start on this journey towards a better lifestyle and improved health and wellbeing.
During my thirty-five years as a holistic healthcare practitioner I have found that over seventy five percent of my patients breathe badly and that this may account for much of their poor health or at the very least is contributing to the disease or illness they complain of. In fact I have found only a few percent breathe optimally and these people tend to have already been doing breath work in yoga, tai chi or other such training.
There are two major causes of this widespread problem, stress of our modern lives and lifestyle problems including our diet, exercise and work.
If you took time out and watched my video I suggested in episode one “Chronic Hidden Hyperventilation 21st Century Epidemic” you will by now realize why stress produces this dysfunctional breathing due to our ancient fight/flight response to stressors.
The lifestyle connections are not so clear cut but from my research over the past two years I have found a strong relationship between what we eat and how we breathe and also that how we breathe influences what and how we eat.You may never have considered the possibility that you over-breathe especially as we are advised to do deep breathing, encouraged to take deep breaths when stressed and generally taught to increase our breathing to get more oxygen into our bodies. But we have been taught wrong! It is not as simple as that and the truth is quite the opposite. Over-breathing lowers our body oxygenation and in fact if you are stressed you will already be over-breathing and the last thing you want to do is to forcibly increase your breathing!
To summarize the physiology quickly; we all need to breathe about five litres of air per minute at rest, and our breathing is automatically controlled, not by the level of oxygen in our body, but the level of carbon dioxide. The level of carbon dioxide should normally be around 5 to 6 percent ideally for optimal oxygenation. We produce far more carbon dioxide than we need, so breathing is the body’s way of controlling this. If the carbon dioxide level is too high breathing is increased automatically to expel the surplus, if too low, breathing is reduced to conserve it.
So why does carbon dioxide matter? Professor Buteyko called carbon dioxide the hormone par excellence, as it has a profound effect on all of the body’s functioning. When carbon dioxide levels fall too low smooth-muscle wrapped around airways, blood vessels and other hollow organs begins to contract. This is the sensation every asthmatic feels when an attack is imminent, airways narrow & constrict and make it hard to breathe, this is one of the reasons many people suffer hypertension as the narrowed arteries demand a higher blood pressure and why others may suffer panic attacks through restricted blood flow to the brain. Many people breathe through the mouth rather than through their nose and this makes over-breathing more likely because of the large mouth compared with small nasal passages. Breathing through the nose filters out dust and irritants and so mouth breathing leads to more irritation of the airways. Also when we breathe too much there is an increase of histamine production that makes us more sensitive to pollen and other allergens. The nose is for breathing, and the mouth is for eating and talking. When we breathe through the nose dust and irritants are filtered out, the air is warmed if it is cold, the air is moisturized if too dry and most bacteria are killed off while passing through the nose so protecting us from infections of the chest.
When carbon dioxide levels are low, the blood carrying the oxygen to all the cells in the body doesn't releases oxygen readily and holds onto it. This creates a sensation of a shortage of breath that makes us try to breathe even more, but as we breathe more we expel even more carbon dioxide and our problems gets worse.
So perhaps you now see why breath training is essential for most of us in the West.
But let's check whether you are breathing too much now.
We're going to measure what Professor Buteyko called the “Control Pause” (CP). The control pause is the maximum comfortable breath hold after exhaling while at rest. It gives a fair measure of how well your body is oxygenated. If you are breathing normally and have good oxygenation, you will be able to hold your breath for 45 to 60 seconds without any effort. If you are very poorly oxygenated you may need to take a breath almost immediately or manage only a few seconds before you have to take another breath in.
So let's try it now.
Make sure you're sitting comfortably and relaxed and that you haven't just eaten as this will affect the result, wait at least an hour after eating before checking your control pause.
Keep your mouth shut and breathe in through your nose a normal breath, breathe out through your nose and then hold your nose. Checked the time on your second hand of a watch or start a timer. Hold your breath until you feel the need to take another breath in, release your nose and breathe in.
Note how many seconds you were able to hold your breath.
This was your control pause, make a note of it and in the next episode will discuss how well your breathing is and what the control pause means.In preparation for the next episodes and for recording your exercises you should purchase “The Breath Connection – The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard £10.00 from Amazon .co.uk or Lulu.com HERE
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Episode # 1 Your Breathing, The Most Neglected Factor in Health and Disease
For the people and doctors in the East this is no revelation as Eastern medicine and health care has always paid great attention to the quality of breathing. This is not a surprise when you think that we can live without food for three weeks, without water for three days but we can only survive three minutes without air. Surely just based on this fact alone, we should give more attention to our breathing?Learn more before you start on this course at just click HERE
During this course you will learn how improved breathing will benefit many diseases including: asthma, allergies, angina, anxiety, circulatory problems, depression, gut problems, hay fever, hypertension, IBS, migraines, ME, panic attacks, skin problems and many more.
The common factor in all these conditions is that the individual has developed a bad habit of breathing too much all the time, very often because of stress, some trauma, diet, or other lifestyle problems.
You will learn how, by simply improving your breathing and a few other lifestyle changes you will be able to enjoy a healthier life, usually with improved energy, better sleep and fewer health problems. The Buteyko Method has been subjected to clinical trials that have proved its effectiveness and millions across the world have benefited from the training. Until now training was either in small classes or one to one and cost a few hundred pounds, even internet based courses have been over a hundred pounds usually. *With the new facility of the podcast we can offer a very good introduction to the training for free. *
The Buteyko Method of breath training was the life’s work of a great Russian physician Professor Konstantin Buteyko who studied the impact of breathing in health and disease and gave this great work to the world to improve the health and wellbeing of as many people as possible. His first teaching of the method in the West was in Australia over thirty years ago, it has since spread across the world and has helped millions of people with many health problems and others have found it has improved their general health or their sporting performance and fitness.
What he discovered was that the vast majority of ill health and disease is associated with poor breathing and in particular with over-breathing or chronic hidden hyperventilation. Once the individual’s breathing was returned to normal many of their symptoms and health problems were relieved or eliminated entirely.
I would recommend you spend a little time watching my video on YouTube called Chronic Hidden Hyperventilation 21st Century Epidemic that will give you a useful overview of what you are going to be learning on this course. HERE
So, when you are ready to start on this journey towards better health go to episode two entitled “Why Most of Us Need Breath Training”
In preparation for the next episodes and for recording your exercises you should purchase “The Breath Connection – The Buteyko Guide to Better Breathing & Better Health” by Michael Lingard £10.00 from Amazon .co.uk HERE or from Lulu.com HERE. This is not essential but as a revision book and for exercise recording you will find it invaluable.
