The Breath of LifeBreathing is the essence of life. Before there was medical equipment that monitored heartbeats and brain waves, a life was defined as the span of time between the first breath a baby took and the last breath of the elder. Healthy breathing continues automatically: we are only aware of our breathing when there is something wrong. However, even when our breathing seems just fine, we may not breathe as healthily as did our ancestors who were farmers, manual laborers, and appliance-less housewives. Most of us spend much of our time sitting at computers, often slouched over the desk. Then in the evening, we watch TV slouched in our favorite over-stuffed chair. Poor posture and lack of movement encourage breathing with the upper chest muscles, which only ventilates the upper lobes of the lungs. [1] Chest breathing is less-than-ideal and is often done with the mouth open. Diaphragmatic breathing is the most efficient way to breathe because it uses the lower lobes of the lungs which have the most blood vessels for exchanging gasses. Nasal breathing is healthier than mouth breathing because the nose is designed to thoroughly warm and moisturize air before it gets to the lungs. In addition, particulates and allergens are filtered out by the nose and never reach the lungs if you breathe nasally. These particulates are cleared from the body in fifteen minutes if you breathe through your nose. If you breathe through your mouth, it can take from two to four months for all of them to be removed from the alveoli of the lungs. [2] Nasal diaphragmatic breathing tends to be more regular and relaxed than upper chest breathing. Mouth breathers in general have poorer health than nasal breathers. [3] It is essential for cancer patients to breathe nasally using the diaphragm for maximum oxygenation of all of their tissues. Cancer cells prefer to metabolize anaerobically (without oxygen) so keeping tissues fully oxygenated will give stray cancer cells less ability to grow and begin a metastasis. [4] Asthmatics have an additional problem with their breathing, which is that the volume of air they breathe per minute is too large. A healthy person breathes between three and five liters of air per minute. Asthmatics breathe from ten to twenty liters per minute routinely and over twenty liters per minute during an asthma attack. This overbreathing causes the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in their blood and the alveoli of their lungs to be too low. [5] After the level has been low for long enough, which can be as little as 20 or more hours in one 24-hour period, the respiratory control center in the brain re-sets to maintain a lower level. This new set point makes asthmatics continue to overbreathe and keeps their CO2 level low. [6] Since CO2 is a natural bronchodilator, this is the opposite of what asthmatics need. Thus, the way asthmatics breathe worsens and perpetuates their problem. If the asthma initially was caused by allergies, eliminating the offending substances may not improve breathing because the respiratory center in their brain is now maintaining a low CO2 level that leads to constricted airways. Buteyko Breathing for AsthmaThe Buteyko breathing method is a training system that uses breathing exercises to temporarily raise CO2 levels in the blood and lungs. If the exercises are done often (usually three times a day) and the higher level of CO2 is not breathed off excessively, (which may require successful treatment of asthma symptoms) this gradually resets the CO2 trigger to cause the asthmatic to breathe a smaller volume of air. Resetting the trigger raises the level of CO2 in the blood consistently, which dilates airways, reduces blood pressure (if needed), and warms cold fingertips by dilating arteries and capillaries and thus improving circulation. The Buteyko breathing method employs a self-test called the control pause (CP) which is used to monitor progress. It is an indicator of the level of CO2 in one's blood and the alveoli of the lungs. If performed first thing in the morning when breathing has not been influenced overnight by activity or conscious efforts to breathe correctly, it indicates the level of the CO2 trigger that dictates when to take a breath. As you practice the exercises, over time, your morning control pause should increase. When it reaches 20 seconds, symptoms should improve. With a CP of 40 seconds, you should be free of asthma. [7] Patrick McKeown states on his Buteyko breathing training DVD that when your control pause reaches 20 or above, you will be free of asthma symptoms unless exposed to your triggers. At 40 or above, he says triggers no longer cause symptoms. Everyone, not just asthmatics, will be sharper mentally when breathing exercises or activity significantly increase the CO2 level in the blood and alveoli of the lungs, even if it is a temporary increase. Asthmatics will also feel better physically. The reason is that oxygen is carried to all of the organs and tissues in the body by the hemoglobin in red blood cells. The ease of release of oxygen from the hemoglobin is dependent on the CO2 level in the blood. (This is called the Bohr effect and was discovered by Dr. Christian Bohr in 1908). [8] If the CO2 level is low, oxygen binds to the hemoglobin molecule more tightly. If it's very low, as in asthmatics, tissues will be low in oxygen even while fully oxygenated blood travels through them over and over. [9] Reduced CO2 also causes constriction of arteries and capillaries, thus reducing the ease of blood flowing around the body and to the brain. [10] Decreasing the CO2 concentration in the blood by breathing heavily significantly reduces the flow of blood to the brain. [11] Between this effect and the tight binding of oxygen to hemoglobin, anyone who is over-breathing due to anxiety or being in a rush may have less than optimal levels of oxygen both in the brain and in all tissues of the body. When Buteyko breathing or meditative breathing (below) is practiced, even non-asthmatics will notice that they feel calmer and their minds are clearer due to better brain oxygenation. One of the Buteyko breathing exercises is a nose-unblocking exercise which is based on increasing your CO2 level. Nitric oxide (NO) will also unblock the nose and is a natural bronchodilator, an antimicrobial agent for the nose and sinuses, and reduces pulmonary vascular resistance. When I learned that the release of NO from the paranasal sinuses could be stimulated by humming, I tried humming. [12] For me, humming is also an effective way to unblock my nose and is easy to do, which helps me get on with breathing exercises more quickly and easily. If you hum a tune, you can do it in public without anyone wondering about your sanity, unlike using Buteyko nose unblocking exercise. When I first heard about Buteyko breathing from a friend, I was about to visit my son in the Washington DC area. She urged me to find out if there were any Buteyko breathing practitioners near his home. (There were not; nor are there any within several hundred miles of where my friend and I live in Colorado). She had trained with a Buteyko breathing practitioner in California when she went to visit her mother while suffering from uncontrollable coughing due to a respiratory infection. I appreciated her good advice and wish I could have taken it. If you begin Buteyko breathing and there are training courses or a practitioner near you, you should seriously consider taking advantage of them. If there is no one near, you can purchase a set containing a DVD of a training session taught by Patrick McKeown, the book given to participants at the training session, as well as a CD that provides coaching for reduced breathing. The book that libraries often have, Asthma-Free Naturally, is another useful resource. It is possible to teach yourself with these resources. In addition, McKeown has written a book about breathing for relaxation and relief of anxiety, Anxiety Free: Stop Worrying and Quieten Your Mind. Meditative breathingBreathing is useful for more than exchanging gasses in your lungs. Controlled breathing is the basis of meditative practices used in many religions, qigong, yoga, and similar practices. However, as Dr. David Servan-Schreiber says in AntiCancer, you do not have to believe in anything to profit from its health benefits for relaxation and for helping overcome cancer. [13] Meditative breathing uses the same biological phenomenon to produce relaxation as Buteyko breathing does. When I read about meditative breathing, I was impressed with how similar the two methods are. The differences are that Buteyko breathing has you consciously try to reduce the volume of air you breathe, and meditative breathing does not have you try to influence your breathing nor are there tests of any kind. It is pure pleasure. Here is Dr. Servan-Schreiber's beautifully written description of how to practice meditative breathing: "Begin by sitting comfortably, in what the Tibetan master Sogyal Rinpoches calls a 'dignified' posture. It gives full freedom to the flow of air that slips down through the nostrils toward the throat, then the bronchi, and finally to the bottom of the lungs, before reversing its route. With your attention focused, take two deep, slow breaths to begin relaxation. A sensation of comfort, lightness, and well-being will settle into your chest and shoulders. As you repeat this exercise, you will learn to let your breathing be led by your attention, and to let your attention rest on your breath. As you relax, you may feel your mind become like a leaf floating on water, rising and falling as waves pass underneath. Your attention accompanies the sensation of each intake of breath and the long exhalation of air leaving the body gently, slowly, gracefully, all the way to the end, until there is nothing more than a tiny, barely perceptible breath left. Then there is a pause. You learn to sink into this pause, more and more profoundly. It's often while resting briefly in it that you feel in the most intimate contact with your body. With practice, you can feel your heart beating, sustaining life, as it has been doing indefatigably for so many years. And then, at the end of the pause, notice a tiny spark light up all by itself and set off a new cycle of breath. What you feel is the spark of life, which is always in us and which, through this process of attention and relaxation, you may discover for the first time." "Inevitably, your mind is distracted from this task after a few minutes and is drawn toward the outside world: the concerns of the past or the obligations of the future. The essential art of this 'radical act of love,' consists of doing what you would do for a child who needs undivided attention. You recognize the importance of these other thoughts, but while patiently promising to attend to them when the time comes, you push them to the side and come back to the person who really needs you in the present moment, that is, yourself." [14] By practicing this daily for at least ten minutes, cancer patients can bring coherence to their biological rhythms. That means their heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and other functions all cycle in synchronization with each other. This results in better immune function, less inflammation, and better regulation of blood sugar levels. [15] Patients may also achieve a level of calmness and mellowness that they have never experienced before. On the Buteyko breathing CD, Patrick MeKeown says, "Relaxation, stilling my mind and quieting my breathing, is the best thing I've ever done." Taking charge of your breathing is a very basic way to help yourself and something only you can do for yourself. It is a special gift that you give to yourself. Footnotes
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