|
|
Archive for March, 2006
Thursday, March 30th, 2006
Asthma Free naturally is specifically for adults and children with asthma. It contains an detailed instruction of a number of Buteyko breathing exercises.
Close Your Mouth is a Buteyko Clinic handbook. A simple and well illustrated book containing Buteyko breathing exercises. Very suitable for persons with stress, anxiety, fatigue, headaches, coughing, wheezing, breathlessness, disrupted sleep and more.
Both books are available from http://www.asthmacare.ie or from http://www.amazon.co.uk. http://www.amazon.com
Posted in Buteyko Books | No Comments »
Thursday, March 30th, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It is known that stress exacerbates the symptoms of asthma in children, but the biological reason for this has been unknown. Now, scientists in Canada have discovered that a stressful home life diminishes the expression of certain proteins on the surface of cells that regulate airway responses and inflammation.
“Collectively, these findings suggest that in children and adolescents with asthma, the quality of home life and family relationships are important determinants of health and well-being and appear to have stronger effects than other life domains, such as academics and peer relationships,” conclude Drs. Gregory E. Miller and Edith Chen, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
They interviewed 39 children with asthma and 38 healthy children, ages 9 to 18, regarding acute and chronic stress over the preceding 6 months. Blood specimens were obtained to measure levels of the so-called glucocorticoid receptor and beta-2-adrenergic receptor.
In general, children with asthma expressed higher levels of beta-2-adrenergic receptor and glucocorticoid receptor than did healthy children.
However, the researchers found that asthmatic children exposed to chronic stress, such as abrasive family relationships or an unstable home environment, expressed less beta-2 than those not exposed to chronic stress, whereas healthy children expressed more.
Major life events alone did not affect expression of these proteins in either group of children.
But in children with asthma who experienced a major life event in the previous 3 months along with chronic stress, the expression of beta-2-adrenergic receptor decreased 9.5-fold and expression of glucocorticoid receptor decreased 5.5-fold. In healthy children, this pattern was reversed and was weaker.
In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Miller and Chen explain that attenuated expression of both receptors would likely lead to airway inflammation and airway constriction after exposure to allergic triggers. It could also diminish patients’ sensitivity to asthma medications, they suggest.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2006.
Posted in Uncategorized, Buteyko and Kids | No Comments »
Thursday, March 30th, 2006
Australian researchers have suggested a simple and natural remedy for reducing the intensity of asthma attacks or even putting off an attack, by just eating more fruits and vegetables. They have enough evidence to show that diets deficient in antioxidants, are capable of accelerating and worsening an attack.
A small group of asthma sufferers were subjected to a diet low in antioxidants and their asthma was observed along with levels of antioxidants, like carotene and lycopene in their blood .It was observed that those who had low levels of antioxidants circulating in the blood, especially antioxidant lycopene, showed symptoms of asthma on the rise. Incidentally lycopene is found in abundance in tomatoes.
The study was conducted by Lisa Wood, a research fellow at the Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Unit at the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle. She said “There has been no evidence that if you take these foods out of the diet it will affect your asthma outcome. The thing that’s most exciting is a proof of concept, that if you take antioxidants out of your diet it will be bad for you, and that hasn’t been scientifically proven before.”
Associate Professor John Wilson, chairman of the National Asthma Council, said “The study was highly significant and very important for our understanding of inflammatory mechanisms. The researchers will no doubt want to go on and explore the relationship in their findings to the usual diet of Australians, and how that might be improved to improve asthma outcomes.”
Posted in Uncategorized, Buteyko and Diet | No Comments »
Thursday, March 30th, 2006
CHILDREN who grow up with cats are less likely to develop allergies than those who live in a feline-free house, a study has found.
Research found unless children already showed symptoms and a family history of allergies such as asthma, eczema or hayfever, they were likely to develop a stronger immune system if they had a feline friend.
Pediatrician Catarina Almqvist has conducted a study of 516 children born in Sydney hospitals from 1997 to 2000.
Tests showed last year 29.3 per cent of the children whose families had acquired cats in the past five years, had atopy, or a positive skin prick test for allergy. This is compared to 47.2 per cent who had atopy but lived in a feline-free household. “There are widespread benefits of pet ownership,” Dr Weston said yesterday.
“Exposure to lots of things when you’re young is likely to reduce the allergies.”
“Children who are exposed to pets or children who grow up on a farm have a reduced risk of atopy,” Dr Almqvsit said. Australian Veterinary Association state spokeswoman Dr Jenny Weston was not surprised by the study.
Posted in Buteyko and Pet Allergies | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
During a debate in the British House of Commons, Westminster, London, on June 25th, 2000, Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge) commented as follows:
It is time we admitted that the current treatments appear to be making us worse, not better, and I want to take a look at the possible causes and treatment of asthma. I shall describe the work done by a Russian doctor, Konstantin Buteyko, in the 1960s; it attempted to explain why people get asthma, and offered a management regime for the disease.
Dr Buteyko’s methods were practised widely in Russia in the 1980s, and that may still be the case. They spread to Australia when an Australian doctor suffered an asthma attack while visiting Russia. He was admitted to hospital and was taught the Buteyko method for controlling his symptoms. He was so impressed that he took the method back to Australia, and it is now taught there and in New Zealand.
Buteyko blames hyperventilation for a number of civilisation-induced diseases. We all hyperventilate at times of stress.
There are some well-documented cases of people who have been helped by the technique. I understand that Jonathan Aitken, when he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, received treatment from a Buteyko practitioner in London. His asthma was moderately severe, but over a course of consultations and home visits he made a dramatic recovery. A newspaper article quoted him as saying: ‘I have tried plenty of treatments, but this is the only one that has really worked. I think it is a remarkable one that could help many people.’
Con Barrell, a member of the New Zealand All-Black team, said after his treatment: ‘I sleep better, my pulse rate has dropped 10-12 beats on a regular basis and I feel well. This has been a big help to me as a professional and personally. I recommend asthmatics try it-things can only get better.’
As someone who has suffered from asthma for 40 years and whose condition would have been previously described as moderate, I have given the Buteyko technique a try myself. I started with a home education pack, as described on the website, www.buteyko.co.nz. Even self-teaching is effective, as by day five I had reduced the number of times I took my reliever medication from four or five times a day to very occasional use. Later I went on a course run by a qualified Buteyko practitioner. As I continued, I discovered to my delight that the asthma symptoms were rapidly reduced. I sleep better and have more energy than I can ever remember.
What I really regret is that no one told me about the method before. This year I have not suffered from any hay fever, except for a very occasional sneeze, and I wish that someone had told me about the technique some time ago. Alone, I could have saved the National Health Service hundred pounds worth of medication and myself a lot of needless discomfort. However, the Minister, whom I am happy to welcome to the Front Bench, will be less impressed by anecdote than by medical trials. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to quote so far.”
Later during the same debate, the same speaker had this to contribute:
“In referring to the effectiveness of the Buteyko method, the National Asthma Campaign remarks on its website: ‘Lack of published research makes it difficult to reach a conclusion on its effectiveness.’
Buteyko himself conducted a trial in Russia, but the results were considered to be too good, and were not believed for many years.
In December 1998 a paper by Bowler, Green and Mitchell was published in Alternative Medicine, in Australia. The paper was called Buteyko breathing techniques in asthma: a blinded randomised trial. The trial compared the effect of the Buteyko breathing technique with a control group in thirty-nine subjects with asthma. The control group was given instruction in general asthma education, relaxation techniques and abdominal breathing exercises. The experimenters looked at medication use, peak flow and quality of life, among other factors.
After three months, the subjects assigned to the Buteyko group had reduced their reliever medication by 904 micrograms, whereas the control group had a reduction of 57 micrograms a highly significant result at the 0.2 per cent level of significance. There was also a reduction in inhaled steroid use by the Buteyko subjects, although the sample sizes were too small for that to be statistically significant.
Similarly and more importantly, perhaps from my point of view, there was a trend towards greater improvement in the mean quality of life scores of the Buteyko group. I certainly think that if someone can have uninterrupted sleep, feel better and have more energy, it is worth a great deal to that individual.
I should like to mention Jill McGowan, who was awarded the Carer of the Year award at the Pride of Britain Awards 2002. She knows a lot about asthma because she has the condition herself, and is also a nurse who has worked for many years helping other asthmatics. Like many others who have followed the course, she stopped needing her inhaler within twenty-four hours.
Jill is also a university lecturer with the skills to look into the theory behind Buteyko. When she decided that the method had merit, she was amazed to find that it was not more widely researched. She applied to universities for grants to allow her to fund a pilot study. When they turned her down, she sold her house and used the £55,000 proceeds to pay for the study herself.
The pilot study has shown excellent results a more than ninety per cent reduction in reliever medication in the first few weeks. Because of those results, a two-year clinical study of 600 asthma sufferers is under way. Jill is also helping to pay for that work by donating three-quarters of her salary. That is real dedication. She hopes that the clinical study will prove the benefits of the Buteyko technique, so that one day it can become available to all on the NHS.
I very much hope that as a result of this adjournment debate, my Honourable Friend will ask the Chief Medical Officer to examine the available evidence. In particular, I would ask him to consider the preliminary evidence from the Scottish trial, and to have further trials conducted to ascertain the method’s efficacy in the UK.
Let me stress that the technique that I have described does not constitute alternative medicine a term normally used to describe techniques that sometimes succeed, although no-one can quite work out why. The Buteyko technique was derived from research carried out by Konstantin Buteyko, who devised a programme from his theory. The fact that it has worked for me, as well as for many others, must suggest that at the very least it is worth investigating further. I hope that the Minister will respond positively to that suggestion.
• Parliamentary copyright material from House of Commons Debate, June 25th, 2002, column 851-854 is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office on behalf of Parliament. The text has been edited for reproduction purposes but has not been altered in any other way.
Posted in Uncategorized, Buteyko House Of Commons debate | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
A therapy is accepted as having therapeutic value when it is proven and verified by independent trials. This appendix provides a brief summary of the first trials into Buteyko Breathing in the Western world, which were conducted at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia in 1995.
Summary of blind randomised trial at the Mater Hospital, Brisbane, 1995.
Duration: January to April 1995
Trial sample: 39 people
The purpose of the trial was to evaluate the therapeutic benefits of the Buteyko Breathing Method as a treatment for asthma. The trial was funded by a grant from the Australian Association of Asthma Foundations and conducted by Professor Charles Mitchell.
Following publicity by the asthma foundation, one-hundred-and-seventy subjects were interviewed and screened. The forty-two subjects who met the requirements were monitored for a period of four weeks prior to the trial to determine their peak flow readings, medication use and asthma stability. During this period, three subjects were excluded because they did not require sufficient short-acting reliever medication.
Thirty-nine subjects participated in the trial; nineteen were allocated to the Buteyko group and twenty to the control group. Participants were allocated to either group by random selection. There were no significant medication use or airway obstruction differences between either group.
Background
The trial was blind, meaning that none of the participants involved was aware of what therapy he or she was being taught; no mention of Buteyko was made during the training on which the trial results were based.
Buteyko Breathing was taught in accordance with normal Buteyko procedures. The Buteyko practitioner made follow-up calls to each patient as needed, and some participants were given follow-up instruction.
The control group was taught conventional abdominal breathing exercises and relaxation techniques by a physiotherapist. The practitioner in the control group made one call to each participant.
Each participant was instructed to use his or her short-acting reliever medication only as needed. In the event that the requirement for short-acting reliever was reduced to one dose or less per day, participants were instructed to reduce their steroid intake.
All participants completed an individual diary of progress including medication intake and symptoms. Each participant completed quality-of-life questionnaires twice: once when the trial started and again three months later as a comparison measure. The quality-of-life measurement took four indicators into account including mood, breathing, social interaction and concern for others.
Trial Results
Exacerbation of symptoms
During the three months of the study, three subjects from each group were admitted to hospital. In addition, six subjects from the Buteyko Method group and seven subjects from the control group received short courses of oral steroids. An approxiamate number of severe chronic asthmatics were involved in both groups.
Medication usage after three months
Buteyko Group
Average reduction in reliever use: 90%
Average reduction in steroid use: 49%
Daily symptom score: 71% improvement
Control Group
Average reduction in reliever use: 14.78%
Average reduction in steroid use: 0%
Daily symptom score: 14% improvement
Changes in minute volume
Buteyko Group
Average breathing volume per minute at start of trial: 14 litres
Average breathing volume after three months: 9.6 litres
Control Group
Average breathing volume per minute at start of trial: 14.2 litres
Average breathing volume after three months: 13.3 litres
[Sources of information in relation to the trials include personal correspondence with the Buteyko practitioner involved, Tess Graham; the Australia Medical Journal 1 and the James Hooper Manual.2]
Conclusions
The Buteyko Breathing group experienced a significant reduction in the need for reliever medication and steroids, along with a greater improvement in quality of life.
The control group showed little change in medication and quality of life despite being taught the conventional breathing exercises that continue to be the mainstay of treatment in hospitals and clinics.
It is interesting to note that half the control group was later taught Buteyko Breathing and the results from this group were consistent with earlier findings, according to Tess Graham, the Buteyko practitioner involved in the trials.
In order to measure only changes to lung function brought about by Buteyko breathing, preventer medication would be required to remain constant. A reduction of preventer medication generally would lead to a decrease of lung function for any asthmatic. During this trial, the Buteyko group were able to reduce their need for preventer medication and yet there was no deterioration in lung function. In twelve weeks, patients could produce the same lung function scores as before the trial but with less than half the need for medication.
A headline from an article published in Australian Doctor read “Doctors gasp at Buteyko sucess”. Dr Simon Bowler, a respiratory physician at Mater Hospital in Brisbane was quoted as saying “we were surpised at the results, as we didn’t expect any significant changes.” 3
Final note
When the trial started, the average volume per minute in the Buteyko group was 14 litres and 14.1 litres in the control group. After three months, the average volume per minute was reduced to 9.6 litres in the Buteyko group and 13.3 litres in the control group.
There was a direct correlation between the reduction in use of short-acting reliever and volume per minute of breathing. Those who reduced their breathing volume the most were able to reduce their symptoms and therefore their medication the most. In addition, no contraindications or dangers were cited throughout the trials or during the reviews afterwards.
Buteyko’s theory is that because hyperventilation causes asthma, a reduction in overbreathing results in a reduction of asthma severity and therefore the need for medication. This was indeed proven by the trials.
References:
1) MJA 1998; 169: 575-578. Simon D Bowler, Amanda Green and Charles A Mitchell
2) The Buteyko Manual for Asthma by James Hooper
3) Australian Doctor 7 April 1995.
The Buteyko Method is safe, makes sense and is scientifically supported for asthma. Clinics throughout Ireland- Dublin, Cork, Limerick, galway, Sligo, Athlone, Kilkenny, Omagh, Dungannon. Tel: 1800 931 935.
Buteyko Books- Asthma Free naturally and Close Your Mouth
Posted in Uncategorized, Mater Hospital Trials | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko was born near Kiev in Russia on January 27th, 1923. This simple yet extraordinary man devoted his life to studying the human organism and made one of the most profound discoveries in the history of medicine.
Buteyko commenced his medical training in Russia in 1946 at the First Medical Institute of Moscow. Part of one of his practical assignments involved monitoring the breathing of terminally ill patients prior to death. After hundreds of hours spent observing and recording breathing patterns, he was able to predict with accuracy, often to the minute, the time of death of each patient. Each patient’s breathing increased as their condition deteriorated and as they approached death.
While at University Buteyko was diagnosed as suffering from malignant hypertension, a fatal form of blood pressure which gave him life expectancy of just 12 months. Under the guidance of his tutors Buteyko researched his illness in depth although it seemed that there was very little that he could do to reverse it.
On October 7th,1952 after majoring in clinical therapy, he began to wonder whether the cause of his condition, which was going from bad to worse, might be his deep breathing. He checked this by reducing his breathing. Within minutes his headache, the pain in his right kidney and his heartache ceased. To confirm his discovery, he took five deep breaths and the pain returned. He again reversed his deep breathing and the pain disappeared.
He did not appreciate it at the time, but this was one of the greatest, although as yet largely unacknowledged, medical discoveries of the twentieth century. Buteyko established that breathing, so vital in sustaining life, can be not alone the cure but also, amazingly, the cause of so many of diseases of civilisation.
Buteyko’s next step was to seek out the theory which would support his discovery. The data then available (in 1952) from authors such as Holden, Priestly, Henderson, De Costa, Werigo, and Bohr, seemed to confirm his hypothesis. It was known at that time that exhaling carbon dioxide by deep breathing resulted in spasms which decreased the supply of oxygen to vital organs, including the brain thus making one breathe deeper again. This completed a vicious circle.
Buteyko measured the breathing patterns of patients suffering from asthma, but he also included in his research sufferers from other ailments and found in many cases that they too hyperventilated between attacks. After many years research, he went on to work on the theoretical aspects of his discovery at the Central and Lenin Medical Libraries. He devised a programme to measure breathing and also a method of reconditioning patients’ breathing to normal levels. This involved:
1. Switching from mouth breathing to nasal breathing.
2. Relaxation of the diaphragm until an air shortage is felt.
3. Small lifestyle changes are necessary to assist with this, thus commencing the road to full recovery.
Buteyko received a cold reception from the medical establishment at the time. In order to have his discovery accepted he commenced clinical research on a mixed group of two hundred people some sick and some healthy, in 1959. On January 11th, 1960 he demonstrated to the Scientific Forum at the Institute the correlation between depth of breathing, carbon dioxide levels in the body and state of health.
However, for many of his colleagues Dr. Buteyko offered too great a challenge to many of the theories upon which medicine was based. Surely illness, for which the conventional medical remedy was surgery and/or extensive medication, could not be dealt with simply by a change in breathing. Yet this was exactly what Buteyko demonstrated. And while not receiving outright acceptance, Buteyko did gain the temporary support of Professor Meshalkin, the chairman of the Forum, in enabling the research to continue.
In the years that followed, Buteyko continued his research, assisted by a team of two hundred qualified medical personnel and using the most up to date technology. By 1967 over one thousand patients with asthma, and other illnesses, had recovered from their conditions using his methods.
Unfortunately Professor Meshalkin continually refused to allow a scientific trial of the Buteyko Method. Later, this was followed by closure of his laboratory and outright repression. There were even reports of attempts on his life by mysterious car accidents and food poisoning.
However in January 1968, following growing public support, Health Minister Academician Petrovsky, promised that he would endorse acceptance of the Buteyko Method as an acceptable standard medical practice if Buteyko could demonstrate an eighty per cent success rate with patients. This was to be based on scientific evaluation of severe cases which were not treatable by conventional health management. Forty-six patients were taught his method and the results were astounding: one hundred per cent of the patients were officially diagnosed as cured. However in an extraordinary development and for no reason that can be established, falsified results were forwarded to the Minister. This subsequently resulted in the closure of Buteyko’s laboratory.
But the good doctor persevered and, in April 1980, following trials in Leningrad and at the First Moscow Institute of Pediatric Diseases, the Buteyko Breathing Method was officially acknowledged as having a one hundred per cent success rate. This research was directed by the Soviet Ministry’s Committee for Science and Technology.
The USSR Committee on Inventions and Discoveries formally acknowledged Buteyko’s discovery in 1983 and issued the patent entitled “The method of treatment of hypocapnia”, (Authors certificate No. 1067640 issued on September 15th, 1983). Interestingly, the date of the discovery as listed in the document was backdated to January 29th, 1962. His discovery was officially recognised twenty years after it had been made.
Over two hundred medical professionals teach this therapy at present from centres located in major towns throughout Russia. Buteyko wrote over fifty scientific publications detailing the relationship between respiration and carbon dioxide and at least five Ph.D. dissertations were written by his colleagues. The basis of the Buteyko Breathing Method detailing the relationship between carbon dioxide and breath holding-time forms part of medical curriculum at Universities.
I was very fortuante to meet and speak with Professor Buteyko during March 2002 at the Buteyko Clinic in Moscow. At the time of meeting, his health was failing due to a very serious car accident in which he had been involved ten years previously. Although he visited the clinic regularly, he had retired at that time and instead devoted his mind to matters of a more spiritual nature.
On Friday, May 2nd 2003 at 4.05 p.m. (Moscow time), Professor Buteyko parted from this world with some very deep inspirations. His death came as quite a shock to the many people around the world who had experienced excellent health as a result of his life’s work. His wish was to be buried in the country of his birth, the Ukraine. His resting place is in Feodosia in the Crimea, Ukraine.
His memory will live on and I feel will grow in momentum as more and more people hear about his discovery.
In 1990 the Buteyko Breathing Method was brought outside Russia to Australia by Sasha Stalmatski. Working from his apartment in Sydney, he began by treating only Russian friends and family. Gradually over the years more people learned of this new method and media coverage in both newspapers and TV helped to increase awareness. In 1995 Stalmatski brought this method to the UK and, for a number of years, it has been practised at the famous Hale Clinic (opened in 1988 by Prince Charles).
It is estimated that over the past five decades more than 100,000 people have learned and applied this therapy in Russia, some 25,000 in Australia and New Zealand, and many thousands in the UK.
Buteyko’s Method challenges the belief that overbreathing is beneficial and also uncovers many causes of illness unexplained by modern medicine. It seems extraordinary that modern medicine, with all its research and resources, human, technical and scientific, has continually failed to verify the link between overbreathing and various medical conditions, notably asthma.
The efforts which Buteyko had to make to have his discovery recognised also seem to indicate an unwillingness on the part of the medical community to accept discoveries not pharmaceutically based in part perhaps because they challenge long standing and sincerely held beliefs.
My own belief is that Buteyko will in time gain full acceptance from the medical community, although it may take some years. This will happen mainly as a result of the growing number of people worldwide who are experiencing a life changing improvement in health within a relatively short period of time. These people will be the most ardent followers of Buteyko, and I consider myself to be part of this group. It is our own direct experience that compels us to tell people, and thus spread the word, about the method of this extraordinary doctor. The quicker this can be accomplished, the greater the contribution that Buteyko’s discovery will make to the health of mankind generally and asthma sufferers in particular.
Posted in Professor Buteyko | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
This section is a simple explanation of the theory of overbreathing and the role of carbon dioxide in the body. There’s no medical jargon here, but the information may seem a little complex simply because it’s not everyday reading material. My advice is to read through this section slowly and return to it occassionally.
You don’t need to know this information off by heart, but it is important to at least have a basic understanding of the theory. In my experience, people who apply breathing exercises without having a good understanding of the concept of overbreathing and the role of carbon dioxide do not receive the full benefits.
Buteyko Breathing Method
Over four decades, Russian scientist Professor Konstantin Buteyko completed pioneering work on illnesses that develop as a result of breathing more air than the body needs. His life’s vocation provided humanity with what is arguably the greatest discovery to date in the field of medicine.
As a medical student, he discovered from his observations of hundreds of patients that their breathing was closely related to the extent of their illnesses. The greater the volume of air inhaled by a patient, the worse the sickness, he noted. This newly-discovered relationship between breathing and health was so precise that he was even able to predict accurately the exact time sick patients would pass away.
As a result of his research, Buteyko went on to devise a breathing programme for his patients, based on reducing the amount of air that passed through their lungs. When each patient applied reduced breathing, all physiological functions including pulse, volume of breathing per minute and blood pressure were monitored. As time went on, the results helped Buteyko to refine and improve his method.
His theory is based on breathing, the life force of any organisim. We humans can live without water and food for many days and weeks but we cannot live without air for more than a few minutes. One wonders then why something so vital to life receives so little attention.
It can often take many years before a medical discovery is acknowledged and incorporated into everyday practice. This was the case with Buteyko’s theory, but his experience is reflected through medical and world history. For example, Professor Lister discovered that many illnesses such as sepsis could be passed from doctor to patient by the contaminated hands of the doctor. Lister tested his hypothesis by disinfecting his hands prior to each operation and this resulted in a decrease in the death rate of his patients. It took many years for this discovery to be accepted by the medical community who only did so when patients’ relatives started demanding that doctors disinfect their hands before operating.
Although research conducted in Russia in 1962 proved unequivocally the soundness of Buteyko’s method, it was not until 1983 that the Committee on Inventions and Discoveries formally acknowledged his work. This recognition, which begs the question of how many more people would have benefited from the discovery if it was acknowledged earlier, was backdated to January 29th, 1962.
Buteyko’s discovery on October 7th, 1952 has improved the health and saved the lives of many thousands of people. Now that his discovery is becoming better known in the Western world, it will save the lives of many more.
Breathing Volume
Clinically, overbreathing is known as hyperventilation which means breathing more air than the body needs. If this is happening on a day-to-day basis, it is called chronic hyperventilation. ‘Hyper’ means over and ‘ventilation’ means breathing
The standard volume of normal breathing for a healthy person is three to five litres of air per minute. During an asthma or panic attack, this breathing level can increase to more than twenty litres per minute, a level which is detrimental to health and unsustainable for a lengthy period. Less obvious and more prevalent is habitually breathing a volume of between five and twenty litres per minute. Based on genetic factors, according to Professor Buteyko, this results in an individual developing illness.
Severe overbreathing can be fatal if it is sustained over a short period of time, so it is plausible to accept that there will be negative health effects caused by less severe but still excessive breathing over a long period of time. Long-term overbreathing leads to the build-up of organ damage, resulting in the development of illnesses specific to the hereditary traits of each person. Professor Buteyko’s method restores correct carbon dioxide levels and therefore leads to an overall improvement in general health.
In Russia, this therapy is practised by an estimated two hundred qualified medical doctors in the treatment of a hundred varied illnesses including hypertension, tinnitus, diabetes, and hypo/hyperthyroidism. The results of treating asthma with the Buteyko Method are swift, so it is used in the West mainly in the treatment of this condition.
Volume of breathing of a person with asthma
Scientific research conducted by Professor Buteyko over three decades and scientific trials at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane in 1995 demonstrated that people with asthma breathe a volume of ten to twenty litres per minute between attacks and over twenty litres during an attack. For example, the average volume of air measured during the Mater Hospital Buteyko Trials was 14.1 litres per minute, although other researchers showed a volume of 15 litres (Johnson et al 1995) and 12 litres (McFadden & Lyons 1968).
Often, overbreathing is not obvious or noticeable and therefore was called ‘hidden hyperventilation’ by Professor Buteyko. Other researchers, such as Robert Fried in his book Hyperventilation Syndrome, have agreed with this description. In addition, hidden ventilation has been observed at my own Asthma Care Clinic; many people show no outward signs of hyperventilating, yet their asthma as indicated by history and drug regime may be quite serious. These same people benefit significantly from exercises aimed at reversing hyperventilation.
Earlier in this book, we learned a simple way of measuring the extent of our overbreathing by performing a simple test developed by Professor Buteyko called the control pause. As overbreathing is related to the extent of our illness, we can determine the state of our asthma by our control pause. An improvement of the control pause coincides with improvement in our condition.
Carbon Dioxide
Ever since Lavoisier proved in the eighteenth century that oxygen was essential to life, carbon dioxide which is an end product of our metabolism became known as a waste gas. Lavoisier compared bodily functions to the process of fire; both fire and the human body absorb oxygen and produce carbon dioxide and heat.
The sustenance of life requires oxygen and carbon dioxide. Just as excess oxygen results in damage to the lungs when the toxicity level is higher than antioxidants can counteract, too little carbon dioxide impairs the correct functioning of all organs.
The key to Buteyko theory is that carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas; it is essential for all metabolic functions. Dr. Yandell Henderson put it well when he wrote: “carbon dioxide is the chief hormone of the entire body, it is the only one that is produced by every tissue and that probably acts on every organ,” in the Cyclopedia of Medicine published in 1940.
Evolution of the lungs and atmospheric changes of carbon dioxide
An estimated five hundred million years ago, when the first prototype of human lungs evolved, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was approximately twenty per cent. This high concentration was due to excessive volcanic activity which produced CO2 in abundance, and a scarcity of plant life meant that such a large quantity was not absorbed and recycled.
Over millions of years, the amount of plant life on earth increased and carbon dioxide levels continued to decline to the present day rate of just .035 per cent. Our lungs adapted to less carbon dioxide by creating air sacs to retain the higher amount of five to six-and-a-half per cent necessary for human life. The womb is a perfect environment for the survival of human life, and it contains a carbon dioxide concentration of between seven and eight per cent.
How does overbreathing affect carbon dioxide?
If you breathe in a large volume of air then you will breathe out a large volume. Humans don’t inhale air to store it in any form in the body, so therefore the volume exhaled has to be the same as the volume inhaled.
Exhaling a large volume of air results in too much carbon dioxide being carried from the alveoli within our lungs and into the atmosphere. To understand this, imagine a plastic straw. Place tiny droplets of water along the inside of the imaginary straw. You already know that if you breathe out very gently through the straw, you will not blow out these little droplets of water. However, if you breathe out very quickly, the quantity of air you exhale will carry the droplets of water out with it. This is similar to what happens in our lungs; the more air we inhale causes more air to be exhaled, and this greater quantity of exhaled air results in too much carbon dioxide being carried out of the body.
Medical science has long recognised that the required amount of carbon dioxide in the little air sacs of the lungs, the alveoli, for a healthy person is between five and six-and-a-half per cent. This is well illustrated in any university medical textbook. However, constant overbreathing leads to a loss of carbon dioxide and the concentration may drop as low as three-and-a-half per cent. Butekyo found that a level of below three per cent led to death.
Carbon dioxide fixed at incorrect level
Under normal conditions, the respiratory centre located in our brain called central chemoreceptors instructs us to breathe based not on the level of oxygen, but on the level of carbon dioxide. Oxygen only becomes the main stimulant driving respiration when its concentration becomes very low, as in the event of asphyxiation.
The way our respiratory centre works is easily explained by comparing it to a household heating thermostat. We set the thermostat at the desired temperature and when the temperature goes below this level, the heating system switches on. When the room warms up to the desired level, the thermostat sends an instruction to switch the heating off again.
Our respiratory centre is the regulator or thermostat for our carbon dioxide. When the level of carbon dioxide goes below the amount set by the respiratory centre, a message is sent to decrease breathing to restore the level of the gas in the body. Decreasing breathing results in an accumulation of carbon dioxide, thus restoring it to set levels. Likewise, when the level of carbon dioxide is higher than the amount set by the respiratory centre, a message is sent to increase breathing. This increased breathing blows off the additional carbon dioxide and brings it back to the level set by the regulator.
However, breathing more than your body needs over a period of hours, weeks, months, or years will result in the day-to-day levels of carbon dioxide remaining low. Our respiratory centre becomes accustomed to or fixed at this lower level of carbon dioxide and determines it to be ‘correct’. Our respiratory centre will therefore instruct us to overbreathe to maintain this low level of carbon dioxide, even though the rest of the body’s organs and tissues are suffering.
Reversing hyperventilation is achieved both by observing our breathing and by practising exercises to recondition the body to accept a higher but more correct level of carbon dioxide. Essentially hyperventilation is a bad habit which we aim to change.
If a patient can’t understand that their asthma is being caused by overbreathing, a hyperventilation provocation test can prove useful. The patient is instructed to take many big breaths, as if they had just finished a race. Generally within two minutes, the patient will start to feel the onset of symptoms such as chest tightness, blocked nose, wheezing and coughing. When the symptoms begin, the patient is instructed to reduce breathing and the symptoms reverse. In practice, about seventy per cent of patients will experience symptoms from deliberate hyperventilation within two minutes. Naturally, this technique is used only as a last resort to prove to the patient that symptoms are a direct result of overbreathing; the patient is always instructed to stop hyperventilating well in advance of an attack. It is not advisable to practise this test without medical supervision.
Why is carbon dioxide so important?
Carbon dioxide is essential to human life. Loss of it due to overbreathing is, according to Professor Buteyko, the primary cause of asthma. For people who are predisposed to developing asthma, maintaining the correct level of carbon dioxide is very important for the following reasons:
· Transportation of oxygen
Oxygen is relatively insoluble in blood, so ninety-eight per cent of the gas is carried by haemoglobin molecule. The release of oxygen from haemoglobin is dependent on the quantity of carbon dioxide in our alveoli/arterial blood. If the level of carbon dioxide is not at the required level of five to six-and-a-half per cent, oxygen has a stronger “bond” to haemoglobin and so is not released to tissues and organs.
What this means is that oxygen is being carried with the blood on a round trip around your body, without reaching its proper destinations such as the cells, tissues and organs. A vicious circle ensues because low oxygen levels will stimulate the respiratory centre, leading to a further increase in breathing and loss of carbon dioxide… such as during an asthma attack.
This bond was named after the two physicians who discovered it and is now known as the Bohr Werigo Effect. It is important to know that blood is ninety-eight per cent saturated with oxygen at a breathing volume of three to five litres of air per minute.
· Dilation of blood vessels
Carbon dioxide dilates the smooth muscle around airways, arteries and capillaries. Reduced carbon dioxide causes smooth muscle to constrict, so people genetically predisposed to develop asthma have greater narrowing of the airways. Reduced carbon dioxide also results in arteries and capillaries constricting. When arteries and capillaries narrow, the heart must work harder to distribute blood throughout the body, resulting in increased heart beat and for some people higher blood pressure. Following an increase in carbon dioxide, there is greater oxygenation of body cells and tissues due to the dilation of blood vessels. Instant feedback comes in the form of reduced symptoms and increased body warmth due to improved blood circulation.
· Maintaining PH balance
It is very important that the human body stays within normal acid/alkali (PH) balance. Acid PH is measured from one to seven, with one being much more acidic. Alkaline PH is measured from seven to fourteen, with the most alkaline being fourteen. Neutral PH is seven.
The human body requires a slightly alkaline PH of 7.365 on this scale of one to fourteen, and even small shifts in the body’s PH balance can be catastrophic. According to the eighth edition of Guyton’s Medical Physiology textbook: “The lower limit at which a person can live more than a few hours is about 6.8 and the upper limit approximately 8.0”.
When carbon dioxide leaves the lungs, the body becomes more alkaline resulting in reduced metabolic functioning and poorer immunity. Professor Buteyko believes that inflammation and allergic hyper-responsiveness is caused by an immune system which does not function correctly due to low carbon dioxide.
Pollen, dust mites, allergens, stress, and other asthma triggers are not the cause of asthma. They trigger an attack when the immune system is already hypersensitive. People with a poor immune system are also more susceptible to developing colds and ‘flu. When the immune system is strengthened, triggers no longer cause an attack and there is a significant reduction in the incidences of colds and ‘flu.
· Maintaining nature’s steroid
Cortisol is the body’s natural steroid. Hyperventilation causes an inadequate production of cortisol. When the body is not producing enough to meet its own needs, then it must be supplemented with synthetic drugs such as Becotide or Flixotide. When hyperventilation is reversed, adrenal functioning improves and leads to less need for steroidal medication. This has been proven in the Mater Hospital trials held in Brisbane in 1995, which concluded that there was 50 per cent less need for steroid medication when hyperventilation was reduced. Furthermore, those who reduced their breathing volume the most were able to reduce their steroid intake the most.
· Controlling mucus production
Mucus forms an important part of the body’s defence system by trapping foreign particles and invaders, and deactivating them before they reach the lungs. Mucus is constantly brushed up to the throat by tiny hair-like structures called cilia, thus removing potential threats. When carbon dioxide is low, the body produces more mucus. While mucus plays an essential role in the airways, excessive mucus narrows the airways and results in greater breathing difficulty.
A combination of all these factors leads to the classical asthma symptoms of chest tightness, coughing, excess mucus production, wheezing, shortness of breath, nasal problems, sleep problems and lethargy. Buteyko cites asthma as the body’s defence to stop and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being lost. When carbon dioxide increases to normal, the defence mechanism is no longer needed, and the result is no asthma symptoms.
Therefore correct carbon dioxide levels result in:
· Greater oxygenation of tissues and organs due to Bohr Werigo effect.
· More open airways thus allowing unrestricted breathing.
· Better immune system functioning. For example, the immune system is strong enough to withstand colds and infections but not hypersensitive enough to perceive harmless particles such as dust mites, pollens and other triggers as threats.
· More adequate production of cortisol, the natural steroid necessary to control inflammation.
· Less mucus production resulting in less restricted airways
Why do I have asthma?
Professor Buteyko believes that genetic predisposition determines which illnesses people develop from overbreathing. The response of each individual to hyperventilation depends on inherited factors.
Various estimates exist regarding the extent of overbreathing among the general population, ranging from thirty per cent, according to Claude Lum, to Sasha Stalmatski’s ninety per cent. In Russia, the Buteyko Method is used in the treatment of up to one hundred diseases including hypertension, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, diabetes and Raynaud’s Syndrome.
Carbon dioxide is so important for normal bodily functioning that it is logical to assume the body must have some way to prevent losing it. Narrowing of the airways is a natural defence mechanism present in people with asthma to help maintain carbon dioxide, and it’s activated when the level of the gas falls too low. Inflammation, by constriction of smooth muscle and by increased mucus secretion, causes narrowing of the airways.
This might seem a peculiar statement, but people with asthma are better off than the rest of the overbreathers because they are equipped with an instant mechanism to prevent the loss of carbon dioxide. People who do not have this mechanism suffer from many of the incurable diseases of civilisation.
At this point, it is worth noting that before the 1900s people who had asthma often lived longer than the rest of the population, and that death from asthma was unknown. As Professor Buteyko put it: “Having asthma generally meant having a long life free from many diseases, but nobody could explain why asthma prevented other diseases or why asthmatics lived longer than other people.” At the end of nineteenth century, Professor of Medicine at Oxford University Sir William Osler, in his textbook The Principles and Practice of Medicine noted: “We have no knowledge of the morbid anatomy of true asthma. Death during the attack is unknown.”
Overbreathing resulting from modern living is the cause of breathing-related diseases. Hyperventilation is not a result of asthma; it is the cause of asthma. Reducing hyperventilation leads to a corresponding reversal of asthma. This was confirmed during Professor Buteyko’s forty years of research and during independent trials at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane, Australia.
Buteyko believes that people genetically predisposed to asthma will develop asthma only if they are overbreathing. Years ago, people ate less processed food and more vegetation; they physically worked and played more; they were under less stress, and less chemicals and pesticides were used in food production. As a result, people produced more carbon dioxide from physical activity and retained it due to a more correct volume of breathing.
Symptoms of overbreathing or hyperventilation
Hyperventilation contributes to many conditions, but because it receives very little attention in the diagnoses of illnesses, many patients suffering from various physical symptoms sometimes spend years going from doctor to doctor looking for the cause. This group of patients are often labelled as ‘psychosomatic’ and there is a belief that the condition is ‘all in the head’.
Physician Claude Lum noted that hyperventilation “presents a collection of bizarre and often apparently unrelated symptoms, which may affect any part of the body, any organ and any system”.
Some of the symptoms of hyperventilation affect:
· The respiratory system in the form of wheezing, breathlessness, coughing, chest tightness, frequent yawning and snoring.
· The nervous system in the form of a light-headed feeling, poor concentration, numbness, sweating, dizziness, vertigo, tingling of hands and feet, faintness, trembling and headache,
· The heart, typically a racing heartbeat, pain in the chest region, and a skipping or irregular heartbeat.
· The mind, including some degrees of anxiety, tension, depression, apprehension and stress.
· Other general symptoms include mouth dryness, fatigue, bad dreams, nightmares, dry itchy skin, sweaty palms, increased urination such as bed wetting or regular visits to the bathroom during the night, diarrhoea, constipation, general weakness and chronic exhaustion.
Why do we overbreathe?
Earlier on I explained that when we overbreathe on a permanent basis, the respiratory centre in our brain is trained to accept a lower level of carbon dioxide. This level is determined to be correct even though it is less than the body requires for good health. The respiratory centre is like a loyal servant who adapts to changing circumstances and situations for its master.
There are many reasons why we overbreathe but not all of them may apply to each individual. The following eight factors are more prevalent in countries of increasing modernisation and affluence, and this helps explain why asthma and other diseases of civilisation are so prevalent in the same countries.
1. Breathing exercises during pregnancy
Women during pregnancy are taught deep breathing exercises throughout countries in the Western world. This excessive breathing reduces the woman’s level of carbon dioxide. As the embryo receives all its nutrients from the mother, her embryo will also obtain less carbon dioxide. Professor Buteyko claimed that the reason many babies suffer from various conditions such as asthma and eczema is because of their mothers’ hyperventilation during pregnancy. After birth, the baby may be over-clothed and raised on formula foods. These factors also contribute to sustaining the loss of carbon dioxide that began during pregnancy.
2. Diet
Over-eating increases breathing because the body requires more energy to digest and process food. Instead of listening to the body and eating when hungry, as we have done for thousands of years, society now dictates at what time we should eat. In addition, we condition ourselves to eat more food than is necessary. How many times have you continued to eat all the food on your plate, or all the courses on offer, even though you didn’t feel hungry?
We have lost the art of listening to the body about what it needs. People in ancient times only ate when they were hungry. The primary reason for this was that hunting and gathering food required effort, and that more energy had to be spent to gather a larger quantity of food. Our ancestors didn’t have the luxury of accessible modern-day convenience stores, supermarkets and fast-food outlets to obtain something to eat whenever they desired, so they ate less and better food.
Often, we eat too quickly due to a hectic lifestyle. As a result, we do not recognise when we have over-eaten because it takes time for the body to send us the signals to stop.
Protein, especially animal protein, and processed foods contribute to overbreathing. Professor Buteyko believes that food is the single biggest contributor to overbreathing. A supplementary factor is the use of chemicals and pesticides in growing all foodstuffs. The body has to work harder to remove the increased amount of toxins in food. This increases breathing.
3. Misconception of deep breathing
The traditional view in the Western world is that deep breathing is conducive to fitness and maintaining good health. A ‘deep breath’ is misinterpreted as a ‘big breath’. This fixed belief prevails among sports coaches, schools, hospitals, asthma clinics, radio, TV, magazines and even Western yoga. The most common instruction to those taking exercise or experiencing stress is to “take a deep breath”. By exercising in the gym or taking a walk along the beach, you can see how many people believe in the benefits of big breathing. At my clinic, I ask each person if he feels that deep breathing is good for him. About seventy per cent of people feel it is and the remainder don’t know because they are unconscious of their breathing.
In the Eastern world, reduced breathing and breath control is very much enshrined in culture and philosophy. Its therapeutic value has been recognised for centuries.
4. Stress
Interpreting outside events, often those over which we can have no control, results in stress. Stress can be positive in the form of laughter, for example, or negative in the form of anxiety. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous response known as ‘fight or flight’. Throughout evolution, people were often faced with life-threatening situations so human physiology changed in response to these situations in order to ensure survival of the species. During stress, blood is diverted from internal organs to skeletal muscles and respiration increases to prepare the body for increased physical activity. Evolutionary people were therefore ready to fight or take flight, depending on the dangers facing them.
However, our evolution has not kept pace with changes in modern life and our bodies often perform poorly to stress arising from marital problems, financial pressure or everyday situations such as traffic jams or late buses. Breathing is increased by stress, and in turn breathing leads to excitability of many brain areas, resulting in states of anxiety, panic and many psychological problems. At this point, one factor will feed off the other thus maintaining a constant state of arousal.
5. Temperature
Living in a hot and stuffy environment causes overbreathing. While body temperature is primarily controlled by skin pores and sweat glands, wearing too much clothing causes us to revert to primitive mouth panting as a way of regulating temperature.
A child’s metabolism is two to three times faster than an adult’s and therefore generates more energy. Children have a natural instinct to wear less clothing than adults, and this results in greater freedom and liveliness. We adults, however, dress children according to the temperature we feel ourselves and fail to take into account how warm the children feel, so an individual child who is wearing too many clothes will overbreathe.
Thanks to central heating and PVC windows and doors, our homes are better insulated and are becoming progressively warmer. Years ago houses were less well insulated and cooler, and a draught often brought fresh air through gaps under doors or between window frames. Research has demonstrated that mild or cool environments assist reduced breathing.
6. Lack of physical exercise
Exercise enables the body to accumulate large amounts of carbon dioxide produced by metabolic activity; lack of physical motion means less activity and less carbon dioxide.
For most people now, work means more mental effort and less physical activity. Even most of our forms of entertainment take place indoors, such as cinemas, theatres, computer games and satellite television. Out of an average twenty-four hour day, eight are spent sleeping, fourteen sitting and just two hours standing or walking. Compare this to the average day of our ancestors who spent all their waking hours completing tasks that demanded physical activity.
7. Over-sleeping
Professor Buteyko’s research shows that lying down horizontally for a long period of time causes severe overbreathing. Most asthma attacks occur between the hours of 3.00 and 5.00 a.m. when the body’s level of carbon dioxide passes below its lower threshold due to excessive breathing during sleep. Professor Buteyko emphasised that the position which causes the most overbreathing is sleeping while lying on one’s back. Incidentally, this can be observed among many people who stop snoring when they are turned over onto their side.
8. Pollution
When air is either insufficient or polluted, our bodies sense we are not getting enough air so we breathe more to compensate. Many people with asthma can testify to increased symptoms following time spent in a stuffy or smoky atmosphere.
Pollution itself is not to blame for the rising tide of asthma in developed countries, despite numerous studies and claims to that effect. If this was so, then why would the rate of asthma continue to be so much less in heavily polluted Asian cities such as Bangkok? Another example is the former East Germany where pollution levels were higher but the asthma rate lower than in West Germany. An additional pointer is that some countries have very low pollution levels but high asthma rates; the relatively unpolluted New Zealand has the third highest incidence of asthma in the world.
9. Bronchodilators
Professor Buteyko’s belief is that using bronchodilator drugs to relieve asthma symptoms causes hyperventilation. Bronchodilators relax smooth muscle and force open the airways, increasing the volume of air that can be inhaled with each breath. Steroids are preferable as a treatment because Professor Buteyko discovered that they reduce breathing. It is worth noting that increasing use of bronchodilating drugs during the 1980s corresponded with a significant increase in the asthma death rate.
10. Asthma Symptoms
The breathing rate and volume during an asthma attack is invariably greater than under normal conditions when no symptoms are present. When an attack occurs over a prolonged period (24 hours), the respiratory centre adjusts to a greater breathing volume and this is manitained even when the attack has passed. A viscious circle ensues as asthma symptoms encourage a greater breathing volume, and this greater breathing volume results in more asthma symptoms.
Professor Buteyko encapsulates his beliefs as follows: “One needs to eat less, breathe less, sleep less and physically work harder to the sweat of one’s brow because this is good. This is a fundamental change, this is true restructuring. This is what we need to do these days.”
Future treatment of asthma?
It is quite obvious that our current management of asthma is not working. More and more children are developing asthma and no-one in the medical community seems to know why. More than ever in our history, children are dependent on powerful drugs which they may have to take for the rest of their lives. Professor Buteyko’s hyperventilation theory explains exactly what is happening and why the incidence of asthma is greater in developed countries. Scientific research weighs in behind the effects of hyperventilation.
Our genes have not changed in one hundred years. Our lifestyle unfortunately has, and this has increased our breathing to the detriment of our general health.
A step in the right direction would be government funding of research into non-drug methods of treating asthma, such as the Buteyko Breathing Method. Only then will people with asthma be offered a suitable and sustainable non-medication lifeline. To date, most research has been funded by multinational drug empires who have a vested interest, resulting in the neglect of safe, natural non-drug methods. This is a sad state of affairs for all people with asthma.
Copyright (c) Patrick McKeown 2003. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication is permitted without written permission. buteyko books
Posted in Buteyko and Hyperventilation | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
Description
An in-depth report on how asthma is diagnosed, treated, and managed in adults.
|
|
|
Introduction
The word asthma originates from an ancient Greek word meaning panting. Essentially, asthma is an inability to breathe properly. When any person inhales, the air travels through the following structures:
- Air passes into the lungs and flows through progressively smaller airways called bronchioles. The lungs contain millions of these airways.
- All bronchioles lead to alveoli, which are microscopic sacs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged.
Asthma is a chronic condition in which these airways undergo changes when stimulated by allergens or other environmental triggers. Such changes appear to be two specific responses:
- The hyperreactive response (also called hyperresponsiveness).
- The inflammatory response.
These actions in the airway cause patients to cough, wheeze, and experience shortness of breath (dyspnea), the classic symptoms of asthma.
Hyperreactive Response
In the hyperreactive response, smooth muscles in the airways constrict and narrow excessively in response to inhaled allergens or other irritants. It should be noted that the airways in everyone’s lungs respond by constricting when exposed to allergens or irritants. There are major differences, however, in the hyperreactive response that occurs in people with asthma:
- When people without asthma breathe in and out deeply, the airways relax and open in order to rid the lungs of the irritant.
- When people with asthma try to take those same deep breaths, their airways do not relax but instead narrow and the patients pant for breath. Smooth muscles in the airways of people with asthma may have a defect, perhaps a deficiency in a critical chemical that prevents the muscles from relaxing.
Inflammatory Response
The hyperreactive stage is followed by the inflammatory response, which generally contributes to asthma in the following way:
- The immune system responds to allergens or other environmental triggers by delivering white blood cells and other immune factors to the airways.
- These so-called inflammatory factors cause the airways to swell, to fill with fluid, and to produce a thick sticky mucus.
- This combination of events results in wheezing, breathlessness, inability to exhale properly, and a phlegm-producing cough.
Inflammation appears to be present in the lungs of all patients with asthma, even those with mild cases, and plays a key role in all forms of the disease
|
Posted in General Buteyko, Buteyko and Asthma | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
A new Australian study suggests that diet may play an important role in regulating asthma symptoms.
Researchers have found that a diet low in anti-oxidants can make asthma much worse.
Dr Lisa Wood, from the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle, put a group of patients with asthma on a diet low in anti-oxidants, which are found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Over 10 days, researchers found the levels of anti-oxidants in the blood dropped significantly.
They also found patients’ lung function decreased and their asthma worsened.
Dr Wood says it is the first study to provide proof that anti-oxidant foods can influence asthma.
She says future studies will look at whether eating more fruits and vegetables can reduce the symptoms of asthma.
The Buteyko breathing provides a complete section on incorporating dietary measures with the breathing exercises to help asthma
Posted in General Buteyko, Buteyko and Diet | No Comments »
|
|
