Asthma-Free Naturally: Everything you need to know about taking control of your asthma. Patrick McKeown
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Название: Asthma-Free Naturally: Everything you need to know about taking control of your asthma
Автор: Patrick McKeown
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Секс и семейная психология
isbn: 9780007368150
isbn:
Control pause [CP]
The control pause is a measure of the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli based on a comfortable breath hold. The control pause and pulse are used together to monitor asthma.
Over time, paying attention to the breathing pattern, your carbon dioxide threshold will adjust to a higher and healthier level. As a result the body becomes less sensitive to carbon dioxide accumulation, which will result in a gradual improvement in the length of time a person can hold their breath. By reducing the volume of breathing, carbon dioxide levels increase and therefore the control pause will increase.
Through overbreathing, the carbon dioxide level will decrease and therefore the control pause will decrease. The control pause will also decrease if medication is reduced too drastically.
The control pause is consistent and is a very good indicator of progress and of the current condition of the asthma, because of this it is essential to learn how to measure it correctly. Bear in mind that the control pause is only a measure; it is not an exercise to increase the level of your carbon dioxide.
The control pause enables the measurement of carbon dioxide in the alveoli without the need for any equipment other than a stopwatch or a watch/clock with a second hand.
Measuring your control pause
♦ Sit in an upright chair and adopt a good posture. Relax your shoulders and rest your lower back against the back of the chair.
♦ Do not change your breathing before taking your CP. Take a small breath in (two seconds) and a small breath out (three seconds). Hold your nose on the ‘out’ breath, with empty lungs but not too empty. Holding your nose is necessary to prevent air entering into the airways.
♦ Count how many seconds you can comfortably last before you need to breathe in again. Hold your breath until you feel the first need to breathe in. Release your nose and breathe in through it.
♦ Your first intake of breath after the CP should be no greater than your breath prior to taking measurement; you should not hold your breath for too long as this may cause you to take a big breath after measuring the CP.
Measuring the Control Pause (a)
Measuring the Control Pause (b)
Points to bear in mind
There are a number of important points to bear in kind when measuring your CP. Breathe normally before taking your CP. Try not to take a big breath before you start as this will give an inconsistent reading.
If you have just completed breathing exercises, wait two or three minutes. Measuring your CP directly after exercises will give an inaccurate reading due to an existing air shortage from the exercise.
Do not breathe all the air out of your lungs because this will be very uncomfortable and will result in a reduced CP. Also do not try to hold your breath for too long as this will give an incorrect reading. The CP is a measurement of your progress only: it is not an exercise to see how long you can hold your breath before you burst!
Hold your breath only until you feel the first urge to breathe in. You may not like the result but it is the correct one and that’s what you need to know. You can then take steps to correct it and gauge your progress with confidence.
It does take some practice before you become consistent in measuring your control pause. The measure is subjective because it is difficult to know what the first urge is. At first, it is very easy to push a little too hard and this is the case when the breath after taking the CP is greater than before.
With practice, the control pause will become more consistent. A reading of the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli will be achieved with a correct control pause.
Carbon dioxide level
The level of carbon dioxide in the body determines the length of time the breath can be held: a higher level of carbon dioxide corresponds to a longer breath hold. The table above was developed by Professor Buteyko after he had measured the breath-holding ability of literally thousands of patients and matched it to their carbon dioxide levels. The figures are consistent and show the level of carbon dioxide based on the length of the control pause.
If the control pause is eight seconds, then there is a little less than four per cent carbon dioxide in the alveoli. If the control pause is fifteen seconds, the carbon dioxide is
between four and four-and-a-half per cent. The aim is to increase the level of carbon dioxide to at least five-and-a-half per cent giving a control pause of forty seconds.
With continuous practice of exercises, the respiratory centre will become accustomed to a higher concentration of carbon dioxide. Remember, it is the level of carbon dioxide that determines the need to breathe.
Low control pause
A low control pause means the body’s respiratory centre has become fixed at a low level of carbon dioxide and therefore will send instructions to breathe a large volume of air in order to maintain this level. By commencing breathing exercises, an attempt is made to break this pattern by deliberately reducing the volume of air inhaled.
Regular practice of exercises and increased observation of breathing will help the respiratory centre to become fixed at a higher level of carbon dioxide. Just as it took time for the respiratory centre to become accustomed to a low level of carbon dioxide, it will also take time for it to become accustomed to a new higher, and healthier, level.
The increase in CP is dependent on a variety of factors: the severity of the asthma, age, how much the breathing exercises have been practised and how much attention has been given to the breathing. The more attention to, and observation of, breathing the better.
The control pause is an accurate measure of the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli. It therefore gives a very good indication of the state of a person’s asthma and in fact, of health generally. If the control pause is increasing then the asthma is improving. If the control pause is decreasing the individual’s asthma is getting worse.
A decreasing control pause is advance warning of an imminent attack. If the trend is for the control pause to decrease over a number of days, then it is important to take control of the condition by reducing the breathing to raise carbon dioxide levels. If it is not proving possible to increase the CP by breathing exercises, then it may be necessary to increase the level of preventative medication that has been prescribed.
A change in CP will often be noticed simply from observing reactions to various daily activities. It is possible to determine from the CP whether something is or is not good for asthma.
For example, if the CP has decreased following exercise, that person has been deep breathing during the exercise, so it would be important to change the way exercise is carried out. If the CP decreased СКАЧАТЬ