Asthma-Free Naturally: Everything you need to know about taking control of your asthma. Patrick McKeown

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СКАЧАТЬ large quantities of meat may not suit that individual or it may be that too much was eaten at one sitting. If the CP consistently drops at work then stress may be a factor or a reversal to mouth breathing may have occurred while concentrating on work. The CP gives excellent feedback and enables everyone to turn detective and determine whether something is a help or a hindrance to their asthma.

      To determine whether breathing exercises are being practised correctly, it is necessary to measure the CP at the start of each exercise and several times during it to ensure that overbreathing is not occurring. The aim of breathing exercises is to reduce breathing volume, which will reset the carbon dioxide threshold and therefore the CP. The breathing exercises are being performed correctly when the CP increases a little between each set of exercises. Breathing exercises are being performed incorrectly when the CP is decreasing between each set. The pages towards the back of this book contain detailed exercise programs.

      If it is proving impossible to influence the CP, then the exercises are not being done correctly and it would probably be better to stop doing the exercises and learn how to do them properly from an experienced practitioner.

      From week to week, there should be a noticeable improvement in the control pause. The body will become conditioned to a higher level of carbon dioxide when breathing exercises are practised correctly. This will be reflected in a higher control pause. As far as Buteyko breathing is concerned, the control pause is the most important measurement of an individual’s asthma.

      Measuring the CP in the morning before breakfast gives the most important measurement of the state of a person’s asthma. In the depths of sleep, breathing is a subconscious activity that cannot be interfered with. For this reason, the morning CP will give a true measurement of the level of carbon dioxide.

      During the day, the CP will change depending on factors like eating, stress and talking, and on how the breathing changes. If the control pause is thirty seconds during the day and only ten seconds in the morning then the true control pause is ten seconds.

      Peak flow meter

      The peak flow meter, as used in conventional management, involves taking deep inhalations followed by large exhalations to measure the forced expiration of air in one second. This is an act of hyperventilation, and it can cause the airways to go into spasm, leading to inconsistent and inaccurate readings of the severity of asthma. In addition, blowing into a peak flow meter a number of times consecutively may be enough to start an attack. It is possible to continue to use your flow meter alongside the CP if desired. After taking a peak flow reading, the breath should be held for three to five seconds and the breathing reduced for three minutes to reverse the act of hyperventilation.

      Scientists at Brunel University have recently devised a new product which allows people with asthma test their condition while they breathe normally. This device is based on capnography and measures the rate of change of carbon dioxide in exhaled air against time with normal breathing. Measurements are reliable and simple to take allowing asthmatic patients to accurately monitor their condition. It is worth noting that this device recognises the importance of correct carbon dioxide levels. Overtime, it may help change the current understanding regarding the significance of carbon dioxide.

      How severe is your asthma?

      When most people with asthma commence Buteyko Clinic Method a control pause of between ten and twenty seconds will be experienced in between attacks. This means that they are habitually breathing enough air for five or six people.

      If your morning control pause is less than ten seconds then you have a breathing volume greater than six times your body’s requirements; you have a serious hyperventilation problem and your asthma is rated as severe.

      If your morning control pause is 12 to 15 seconds then you are breathing five times the body’s requirements, indicating you have chronic and nocturnal asthma.

      If your morning control pause is 15 to 20 seconds you are breathing four times the body’s requirements, indicating moderate asthma, nocturnal and exercise-induced asthma.

      If your morning control pause is 20 to 30 seconds you are breathing three times the body’s requirements, indicating that the main asthma symptoms have disappeared, although some nocturnal asthma persists.

      If your morning control pause is 30 to 40 seconds you are breathing one-and-a-half times to twice the body’s requirements, indicating that you may have asthma symptoms after exposure to a severe trigger.

      If your morning control pause is 40 to 60 seconds, then your breathing is correct. As a direct result, your underlying asthma is being treated and you will very rarely have symptoms.

      If your morning control pause is sixty seconds you have no health problems or diseases of civilisation. For over forty years Professor Buteyko and his associates were unable to find any person with a control pause of sixty seconds who had any of the diseases of modern civilisation. Diseases of civilisation are those which have become more widespread as countries become more industrialised, including angina, asthma, allergies, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, emphysema, hypertension, sleep apnoea and many more.

       Chapter 3 Taking control

      ‘“Begin at the beginning,” the king said gravely, “and go till you come to the end; then stop.”’

      – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

      The overall aims of breathing exercises are to increase the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli, and to train the body to become accustomed to it. As indicated in previous chapters, our lungs require a concentration of between five per cent and six-and-a-half per cent carbon dioxide, equating to a control pause (CP), taken while at rest, of between forty and sixty seconds. Most of those with an asthma problem will have a CP of between 10 and 20 seconds, and this points to a carbon dioxide level of between four and four-and-a-half per cent. As you can see, this is much lower than what the body requires.

      To trap a higher level of carbon dioxide and to readjust the respiratory centre to this increased amount, exercises specifically aimed at reducing breathing are performed at specific times each day. These exercises should be continued until a reduced volume of breathing becomes a way of life, and until the control pause reaches at least forty seconds. When you are able to maintain a control pause of forty seconds, you will have mastered the art of correct breathing, it will be an unconscious activity, and will be incorporated into your daily life.

      To increase the control pause to your interim target of twenty seconds, breathing exercises are essential. As you train yourself to breathe correctly, physical activity should be used in conjunction with breathing exercises to help increase the control pause from twenty to your ultimate aim of forty seconds.

      The objectives of these exercises are:

      ♦ To lower the incidence of asthma attacks.

      ♦ To halt an attack at the first sign of symptoms. For example, a simple blocked nose is one of the first signs of an attack.

      Over a twelve-month period, breathing is brought to the more normal level of three to five litres as shown in the following diagram. This breathing is best described as regular, calm and smooth.

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