Butekyo Breathing Method

The Buteyko breathing technique, also known as the Buteyko method, is a type of alternative or additional physical therapy that suggests using breathing exercises mainly to treat respiratory disorders like asthma.

Buteyko claims that hyperventilation, or a persistently elevated respiratory rate, is the cause or aggravating factor of many medical problems, including asthma. The technique seeks to promote slower, shallower breathing while reducing hyperventilation. A series of reduced-breathing exercises that emphasize relaxation, breath-holding, and nasal breathing are part of the treatment.

The Buteyko breathing technique was developed in the 1950s by a Ukrainian doctor named Konstantin Buteyko. The technique involves shutting your mouth and taking a deep nasal breath.

Although Buteyko breathing has its own hazards and safety measures that individuals should take into consideration, some people use it to treat the symptoms of asthma and other respiratory issues.

What is Butekyo breathing?

The basic concept behind Buteyko is that people with asthma often breathe faster and deeper than seems necessary. This is known as hyperventilation by professionals.

Buteyko’s breathing technique was founded on the concept that bad breathing patterns might exacerbate conditions including depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Instead of inadequate chest breathing, which uses too much oxygen and causes hyperventilation and an excess of carbon dioxide (CO2), the Buteyko Breathing Method teaches people how to use their diaphragm for full-body breathing.

History

Physiologist Konstantin Buteyko created the Buteyko technique in the 1950s in the Soviet Union.

In 1968, the Leningrad Institute of Pulmonology conducted the first formal investigation on the Buteyko method’s efficacy in treating asthma. After the second, which took place in April 1980 at the First Moscow Institute of Pediatric Diseases, the head of the health ministry finally advocated for the use of the Buteyko method to treat bronchial asthma. Later, this technique was brought to the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain, where it has gained more and more recognition.

The Buteyko method is one of several breathing retraining strategies used to treat lung illnesses. These include both traditional approaches like breathing exercises guided by a physiotherapist and alternative medicine methods like yoga.

Benefits

The benefits of Buteyko breathing are various.

• It could help issues with the Eustachian tube.
• Controls breathing: By educating people to exhale more than they inhale, Buteyko breathing controls breathing by forcing the body to utilize less oxygen, which facilitates more effective breathing.
• Lessens the symptoms of asthma
• It could reduce anxiety: The Buteyko technique helps patients manage their breathing, which lowers anxiety. Because breathing exercises teach people how to control their blood pressure and pulse rate, they are an excellent way to reduce anxiety. They may feel less anxious and more at ease as a result.

How to do it

• You can learn to breathe more slowly and gently using Buteyko breathing. Your breathing rhythms will be balanced as you learn to breathe deeper and more slowly.
• It consists of breathing exercises that teach you to hold your breath. It is stated that you will eventually integrate the breathing method into your everyday routine.

The steps for Buteyko breathing are as follows: 

• Sit on the floor or in a chair with your spine straight, breathing normally, relaxing your respiratory muscles, 
• Checking and recording your pulse, and 
• Let go of any tension in your shoulders or body. After you have relaxed, 
• Take a breath and exhale, holding your breath at the end of the exhale and plugging your nose. 
• Hold this position until your body signals you to breathe again, then resume regular breathing for 10 seconds, and repeat the process for up to 20 minutes.

Preparation

• Take a seat on a chair or the floor.
• To keep your posture straight, lengthen your spine.
• Let your breathing muscles relax.
• Take a few minutes to breathe properly.

The Control Pause

• Hold your breath after you’ve let out a relaxing breath.
• Block your nose with your thumb and index finger.
• Hold your breath until you feel the need to breathe, which could involve your diaphragm moving involuntarily. Then, take a breath.
• For at least ten seconds, breathe properly.
• Do this multiple times.

The Maximum Pause

• Hold your breath after you’ve let out a relaxing breath.
• Block your nose with your thumb and index finger.
• Hold your breath as long as you can, which is typically twice as long as the Control Pause.
• Take a breath once you’ve experienced moderate discomfort.
• For at least ten seconds, breathe properly.
• Do this multiple times.

Advice for first-time users

• Always use your nose to breathe in and out when performing Buteyko breathing.
• Stop the practice and breathe normally if you ever feel anxious, short of breath, or really uncomfortable.
• You might be able to hold your breath for longer as you get better. You could eventually be able to maintain the Maximum Pause for two minutes and the Control Pause for one minute.

Drawbacks

• Despite its many advantages, Buteyko breathing is not a replacement for your doctor’s treatment plan and may not be appropriate for everyone. Before starting any breathing exercises, always consult your healthcare physician.

If you have any of the following, stay away from BBT:

• Heart disease
• Hypertension, and
• Epilepsy are major health issues.

Alternative options

You should utilize Buteyko breathing in addition to your other therapies because it is a supplementary therapy. You can also examine clinical therapies for anxiety or asthma.

You might want to try other breathing techniques if the Buteyko breathing technique isn’t your thing. Your breathing patterns and general health can still be improved by these techniques.

Additional breathing methods consist of:

• The Papworth method

• Diaphragmatic breathing
• Box breathing
• The 4-7-8 technique
• Nasal breathing
• Belly breathing
• Pursed-lip breathing
• Resonant breathing
• Alternate nostril breathing
• Humming bee breath
• Three-part breathing
• Breath of fire
• Lion’s breath

Method

• The Buteyko approach highlights how carbon dioxide and hyperventilation affect respiratory conditions and general health. Hyperventilation is known to cause hypocapnea, or low blood carbon dioxide levels, which can then cause disruptions in the blood’s acid-base balance and a decrease in tissue oxygen levels.

• Users of this approach claim that the effects of long-term hyperventilation are more extensive than is generally believed. These effects include extensive airway muscular spasms (bronchospasm), disruption of the Krebs cycle, which produces cell energy, and disruption of many essential homeostatic chemical events in the body.

• The Buteyko method claims to heal or cure the body of these medical issues by retraining the breathing pattern to account for the hypocapnia and chronic hyperventilation that are thought to be present.

• The medical community does not generally support the Buteyko method, partly because there is insufficient evidence to support the idea that hyperventilation and hypocapnia cause disease.

Nasal breathing

• The Buteyko technique highlights the value of nasal breathing, which shields the airways by warming, humidifying, and purifying the air that enters the lungs.

• However, Buteyko practitioners believe that bad posture and/or mouth breathing contribute to the difficulty sleeping that many of those with asthma experience at night.

• It is also possible to reduce symptoms at night by maintaining a clear nose and promoting nasal breathing throughout the day.

• Another essential component of the Buteyko method is breathing only through the nose when exercising.

Reduced breathing exercises

• Breath control, or deliberately lowering one’s breathing rate or volume, is a key component of the fundamental Buteyko exercises.

• Buteyko is sometimes referred to as breathing retraining by educators, who liken it to learning how to ride a bicycle. They claim that the workouts are gradually phased out as the condition improves and that the procedures become automatic after enough practice time.

• Buteyko measures the control pause (CP), or the amount of time between breaths that a person can hold their breath comfortably.

• People with asthma who frequently practice Buteyko breathing will see a decrease in pulse rate and an increase in CP, which correlates to fewer symptoms of asthma, according to Buteyko instructors.

Relaxation

• Relaxation is emphasized in Buteyko practice to prevent asthma episodes. An asthma episode can cause a brief period of fast breathing and is an uncomfortable first feeling.

• According to the Buteyko approach, people with asthma can avoid a vicious cycle of over breathing that could lead to an asthma attack by managing this early phase of over breathing.

FAQs

Reference

• Ames, H. (2022, October 27). What to know about Buteyko breathing. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/buteyko-breathing#benefits