Those who suffer from asthma know all too well the usual discomfort and feeling of unease that accompany asthma attacks. These are caused by difficulty in breathing and reduction in air flow that goes in and out of your lungs that are the main characteristics of this disease. This reduction, which is caused by inflammation of the airways that are found inside your lungs, can produce symptoms such as coughing, tightening or heaviness of the chest, and associated breathing problems. Over the years, doctors have come up with different methods that try to lessen asthmatic symptoms and improve the lives of sufferers, although until now there has been no definite cure for the disease. These include medication, avoiding the triggers or causes of asthma attacks (such as smoking, too much stress, exercise, and exposure to foreign matter such as pet fur, wood dust, grain, and certain chemicals), and using alternative treatments and medicine. One of these alternative methods is the breathing treatment known as the Buteyko method.
The Buteyko Breathing Technique takes its name from Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, who first came up with the method during the 1950s. While studying hospital patients, he observed that their rate of breathing increased with the seriousness of their conditions or the disease which they are suffering from. He inferred that there must be a relationship between these two factors, so he set out to create a method that basically turns them around through regulating the breath rate and making it more shorter. Buteyko has studied the breathing techniques that usually accompany yoga exercises and he is convinced that he can use the same principles that are found in them to formulate a way to restrict normal breathing that can help relieve and improve asthmatic symptoms. Over time, he gained approval not only with Russian medical authorities but with those that come from different parts of the globe. They, along with some tests and clinical trials that were conducted to look at the method's benefits, confirmed the veracity and usefulness of the technique.
As a form of breathing treatment, the Buteyko technique emphasizes breathing through the nose. This helps shield the air passages by ensuring that the air that passes through them is sufficiently warm, moist, and free of impurities before it goes inside the lungs. The technique also requires that one is comfortable and relaxed as he can be; if you feel like you would have an asthma attack, you must be calm enough so that you are able to slow down your rapid breathing that often precedes a bout of asthma. This way, you will avoid experiencing coughing fits and other breathing problems that are normal symptoms of the disease. You should then do the various exercises that are at the heart of the Buteyko technique to lower down your rate of breathing and the volume of air that you inhale and exhale. In fact, the technique in itself can be described as €€breath retraining€: It can be a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it you can automatically begin the technique every time you suffer from asthmatic symptoms, and eventually make less use of it as your attacks happen less frequently.
The Buteyko method is one of the surest ways in which asthma sufferers can relieve themselves of the disease's symptoms because it attempts to resolve it at its very source. It may have its share of skeptics who still doubt its effectiveness and authenticity, but its benefits and believers belie whatever qualms detractors may have against it.
The Buteyko Breathing Technique takes its name from Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, who first came up with the method during the 1950s. While studying hospital patients, he observed that their rate of breathing increased with the seriousness of their conditions or the disease which they are suffering from. He inferred that there must be a relationship between these two factors, so he set out to create a method that basically turns them around through regulating the breath rate and making it more shorter. Buteyko has studied the breathing techniques that usually accompany yoga exercises and he is convinced that he can use the same principles that are found in them to formulate a way to restrict normal breathing that can help relieve and improve asthmatic symptoms. Over time, he gained approval not only with Russian medical authorities but with those that come from different parts of the globe. They, along with some tests and clinical trials that were conducted to look at the method's benefits, confirmed the veracity and usefulness of the technique.
As a form of breathing treatment, the Buteyko technique emphasizes breathing through the nose. This helps shield the air passages by ensuring that the air that passes through them is sufficiently warm, moist, and free of impurities before it goes inside the lungs. The technique also requires that one is comfortable and relaxed as he can be; if you feel like you would have an asthma attack, you must be calm enough so that you are able to slow down your rapid breathing that often precedes a bout of asthma. This way, you will avoid experiencing coughing fits and other breathing problems that are normal symptoms of the disease. You should then do the various exercises that are at the heart of the Buteyko technique to lower down your rate of breathing and the volume of air that you inhale and exhale. In fact, the technique in itself can be described as €€breath retraining€: It can be a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it you can automatically begin the technique every time you suffer from asthmatic symptoms, and eventually make less use of it as your attacks happen less frequently.
The Buteyko method is one of the surest ways in which asthma sufferers can relieve themselves of the disease's symptoms because it attempts to resolve it at its very source. It may have its share of skeptics who still doubt its effectiveness and authenticity, but its benefits and believers belie whatever qualms detractors may have against it.