DO YOU EVEN BREATH? WHAT IS BUTEYKO BREATHING

DO YOU EVEN BREATH?

The answer to this question is not as simple as you might think.

Yes, obviously you are breathing, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this article, but ask yourself who is working for who- you for your breathing system or your breathing system for you.

What I mean by this is that most of us cannot control our breathing enough to a point where we see actual benefits from it. Most of us go through our day breathing inefficiently, and suffering the consequences of it.

What are the consequences? How about high blood pressure? asthma? maybe chronic diseases? or lower levels of cognitive and sports performance?

Breathing is the most important and immediate part of life. We can go on for weeks without food, days without water. Try not breathing for 30 minutes, or even 15, or let’s try 1 minute. Practicing Buteyko Breathing System has taught us that the vast majority of people today cannot even do that. Why? Because even though as babies we breath correctly and efficiently, at some point in our lives we’ve learned to breath incorrectly, and simply too much.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BREATHING INCORRECTLY?

By incorrect breathing, I mean breathing in a way that doesn’t answer the body’s needs, that doesn’t bring in the right amount and the right concentration of gases that the body needs, and therefore affects the way the body (and the mind) performs.

IT’S NOT (ONLY) ABOUT OXYGEN

Despite what most people think, what we need to perform well is not more oxygen. Most people don’t have a problem with O2 saturation. What most people are actually lacking is CO2.

When we have too little CO2 in our blood, things start deteriorating- the bond between Hemoglobin and O2 molecules becomes too strong, and the O2 molecules don’t break away to enter the cells, thus actually depriving them of oxygen, even though our blood saturation levels remain “good”. This lack of oxygen in cells causes the heart to increase its rate in order to supply more oxygen to the cells (who are not getting that oxygen, as we’ve mentioned), thus causing an increased heart rate and blood pressure. This effect is called the Bohr effect. Google it. This is only one mechanism of many that is being affected by low blood CO2 levels, there are many more.

HOW CAN I KNOW IF I’M BREATHING CORRECTLY?

If you are breathing correctly, that means your body has the right concentrations and reserves of O2 and CO2. It also means that you will actually be able to comfortably hold your breath, after exhaling (Control Pause), for at least 60 seconds (in the Buteyko Breathing System we consider this a marker of optimal health). By comfortably I mean before feeling any real discomfort or urge to breath.

Try it now- take a breath, exhale and close your nose and mouth with your hand.

Use the following table to see exactly how well or not well you breath:

I’VE GOT LESS THAN 60 SECONDS, HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY BREATHING?

The Buteyko Breathing System is specifically designed to improve health by improving breathing.

We have a series of techniques and exercises to help you improve your health and breath, whether you have breathing difficulties (e.g. Asthma, COPD), chronic disease (e.g. high blood pressure, Autoimmune diseases, Chronic fatigue) , allergies, migraines, sleep disorders, ADD/ADHD, or if you are an athlete interested in improving your performance and reducing your recovery times.

For more information on Buteyko Breathing System go to www.advacnedbuteyko.com or contact us at info@impact-gruppe.de