THE RESULTS OF THE APPROBATION OF THE 'BBL' METHOD IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN'S DISEASES IN THE FIRST MOSCOW MEDICAL INSTITUTE OF E. M. SECHENOV
K.P.BUTEYKO, V.A.GENINA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The BBL method was tested and approved by the Medical institute of E.M. Sechenov between 27.2.81 and 21.5.81.
The method is based on a conscious decrease in deep breathing, and specifically designed for patients suffering from bronchial asthma. It is based on the fact that clinical results show improvement proportional to the decrease in lung ventilation.
Clinical Characterizations of Patients with Bronchial Asthma:
The experiment was based on patients suffering from regular asthma attacks (once a day or more) during the previous month. Some of the patients had severe asthmatic conditions leading to asphyxia. The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate the relationship between the major symptoms of the disease (bronchospasm, cough, nasal blockage and so on) and hyperventilation. The patients were asked to undergo a three stage hyperventilation test (developed by Professor Buteyko in 1968).
The test was conducted in a sitting position. The patients were asked to use the BBL method. Correctly followed instructions yielded the following results:
In 1 to 5 minutes there was a decrease or disappearance in the symptoms of asthma: the patients experienced relief from asphyxia, wheezing, cough or rhinitis.
The second stage involved a reverse process: The patients were asked to breath deeply for 15 to 60 seconds until the first symptoms of an attack.
The patients were asked to repeat the BBL and thus prevent the onset of the attack independently.
If the patients did not understand the relationship between the hyperventilation and the disease, the test was repeated. The test was not conducted if the patients took a bronchodilator 1.5 to 2 hours prior to the test. Fifty-two patients between the ages of 3 and 15 were treated according to the B BL method: 36 boys (69%) and 16 girls (31%) . Of the 52 children, 34 or (65%) were hospitalised, 18 or (35%) were outpatients. Twenty-four or (46%) had atopic bronchial asthma, 22 or (42%) had mixed bronchial asthma and 6 or (12%) had bacterial allergy bronchial asthma. The majority of the patients (36) had been suffering from this condition for up to 5 ywears, 12 for between 6 to 10 years and 4 from 11 to 15 years. The patients were divided into three categories: mild, severe and very severe.
According to patients' histories, 41 cases (79%) had pneumonia 1 to 7 times. Four (8%) were taking, corticosteroids (prednisolone tablets) prior to the BBL treatment. Six (11%) were physically handicapped, 9 (17%) were obese; all the children had bad posture, 11 (21.2) had chest deformity. Most of the children (33 or 64%) had allergic reactions to medication. 34 (65%) allergic reactions to food and 25 (48%) allergic reactions to dust. Twentv-seven (52%) suffered from rhinitis. 18 (34.6%) had Quinke's oedema. 47 (90%) had a predisposition to colds and flu. All had problems with breathing, through the nose, 36 (69%) chronic tonsillitis, 11 (21%) sinus problems. 23 (44%) had frequent headaches, all had palpitations and 13 (25%) had unstable body temperature.
Acute periods of their condition were accompanied by the following symptoms: 31 (59%) had sleeping problems, 16 (31%) had loss of appetite and 13 (25%) constipation. Of the 52 children 47 (90%) were regular hospital patients and only 5 (10%) did not require hospitalisation.
Prior to the BBL treatment, all children had antibiotic treatment, all had to use bronchodilators. 37 (71.2%) were using Intal over prolonged periods, 15 (29%) were taking antihistamines. All these treatments were having little effect.
The course of the BBL treatment consisted of a daily training of 40 to 90 minutes exercise in the mornings under the supervision of the specialist; self training, included 3 to 5 hours under the supervision of the instructor or the parents. The majority of the children mastered the method in 5 to 10 minutes: they were eager, disciplined and enthusiastic.
After 1 to 5 days of the BBL treatment, the patients were able to stop their asthma attacks, coughs, blocked noses and wheezing. The patients wcre encouraged to use the BBL method rather than their medication to overcome their attacks. Thirty-eight (73%) discontinued their medication as soon as they commenced the BBL method. Eight (15%) cut down on their medication after 3 to 4 days. Steroid medications however were an exception. They had to be reduced gradually. The patients were allowed to take their medication in conjunction with the treatment, only if they were unable to stop the attack after 10 to 15 minutes with the BBL method. For these cases, medication dosage was reduced by a factor of 2 to 3 and remained sufficient to stop the attack.
The results of the BBL method.
Fifty-two children were observed for between 29 and 84 days. The results were based on the following criteria:
a) no improvement
b) some improvement (the degree of attacks is lessened together with a considerable reduction in medication).
c) considerable improvement (cessation of the heavy attacks. Slight traces of the disease or a total disappearance of the symptoms).
Forty-three (83%) of the patients showed considerable improvement and nine (17%) showed some improvement. There were no cases showing no improvement. The average period of hospitalisation was 16 days. All the patients with bronchial asthma (52) improved in the first four days. They could breathe freely through the nose and their coughs and wheezing disappeared. Fifteen experienced 'sanogenes' (self-cleansing') reactions, manifesting, themselves through nervous excitement, chills, raised temperatures (up to 39C), headaches, muscular pains, intestinal pains, chest pains, weakness and hypersecretion of mucus. Some experienced appetite loss, nausea, vomiting, thirst, excessive salivation (smelling of their medication) and increased urination and defecation. These reactions lasted from a few hours to two days and happened 2 to 3 times. The time in the condition of the patient was relative to the length of the controlled pause*.
The clinical observations of the dynamics and the functions of the bronchi were researched simultaneously (using Tiffno tests and Rait scale). All the patients showed the following results during the first fourteen days of the BBL treatment.
As the control pause increased from 10 to 40 seconds, so did the concentrations of immunoglobulins A, M, G & E. Forced expiration volume (Rait's measuring scale) was raised from 36.7 to 173.2. The acid-alkali balance of the blood normalised (it became less basic), the pCO2 of the arterial blood increased from 24.6 to 36.3 mmHg. Control pause increased from 3.9 +/- 0.3 seconds to 31.4 +/- 4.7 seconds.
Conclusion
The BBL method as suggested by Professor Buteyko helps to decrease the number and severity of attacks as well as the dosage of medication.
As a result of this therapy, the indicators of acid-alkali balance and lung ventilation improved.
The method may be taught to children from 3 years of age up either in hospital or as outpatients.
This method is endured by children of any age over 3.
This method is most effective in acute periods of bronchial asthma in very ill patients.
Buteyko trial shows drop in asthma medication use
Therapy - by Rada Rouse
Early results from the world's largest trial of the Buteyko breathing method for asthma management show that almost all participants used less reliever and preventer medication after six months of therapy.
Jill McGowan, a former GP practice nurse and university lecturer, is conducting a self-funded, randomised controlled trial among 600 people aged 18 to 75 years with mild to severe asthma recruited from primary care and hospital clinics in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ms McGowan will tell the 2nd International Buteyko Asthma Conference in Melbourne this weekend that trial participants receiving the instruction had reduced symptoms, improved quality of life and participation in sports activity at six months - that this was sustained at 12 months.
-
Those receiving the instruction had increased participation in sports activity, reduced symptoms and improved quality of life at six months.
Among the active Buteyko group, almost all the participants (98%) reduced use of reliever medication, 92% decreased their use of preventer medication, and 96% used less oral preventer preparations. All people in this group stopped using oral reliever preparations.
In response to the early results of the two-year trial, the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health has asked the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which issues therapeutic guidelines to consider including the Buteyko method in future technology appraisals programs for the UK.
House Of Commons Debate - Mrs Anne Campbell
"It is time we admitted that the current treatments appear to be making us worse, not better, and I want to look at the possible causes and treatment of asthma. I shall describe the work done by a Russian doctor, Konstantin Buteyko, in the 1960's; it attempted to explain why people get asthma, and offered a managmente regime for the disease.
Dr. Buteyko's methods were practised widely in Russia in the 1980's and that is still 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 Johnathan Aitken, when he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, received treatment from a Buteyko practitioner in London. His asthma was moderately sever, but over a course of consultations and home visits he made a dramtic 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 previouls described as moderate, I have given the Buteyko technique a try myself. I started with a home education pack. 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 hundreds of 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 medical trials. Unfortunately, there is little vevidence to quote so far."
Later during the same debate, Anne had this to contribute:
"in refrring 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 39 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 very much hope that as a result of this adjournment debate, my Honourable Friend will ask the Chief Mediccal Officer to examine teh 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 taht 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 programmed 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."
BUTEYKO BREATHING
An Alternative Treatment
Mara Weisman
January 1995 New York
Seven-year-old Yakov Merkin breathed in through his nose and exhaled. He pinched his nostrils closed with his fingers and began walking across the living room, his mother counting each step. At about 94 steps, when he couldn't hold his breath anymore, he fell to the floor, triumphant yet nearly exhausted.
Yakov, an asthmatic who suffered severe coughing fits, is practicing a new method of breathing called Buteyko. It incorporates exercises, like the one described above, to monitor progress, and shallow breathing through the nose.
"It's the best thing he ever did," says Dr. Linda Merkin, Yakov's mother. Before he began practicing Buteyko, he was taking Albuterol (a broncho-dilator) through a nebulizer (an electric pump that converts medications into a fine mist) twice a day for about 20 minutes. "I just wanted his asthma fixed," Dr. Merkin recalls.
So she and her husband took to the Internet and conducted searches on alternative treatments for asthma. They found Buteyko, a drug-free treatment currently used in Australia, New Zealand and England. "It sounded very different," Dr. Merkin says, "because each story was just as good as the last."
Since Buteyko is virtually unknown in the United States, Dr. Merkin traveled to London to treat her son's asthma. There she met with Dr. Christopher Drake, a Buteyko practitioner, and convinced him to introduce the method in New York.
Buteyko is named after a Russian professor, Konstantine Buteyko, who developed the method over 40 years ago. It is based on the physiological fact that asthma sufferers, as well as others with breathing disorders, breathe a greater volume of air per minute than healthy people. But their levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide are off balance, causing the body to react by constricting the breathing passages. This is due to lower levels of carbon dioxide, which is not only a byproduct of respiration, but also necessary for the maintenance of pH levels in the body's fluids. "All asthma symptoms are mechanisms to defend or compensate against the body's excessive loss of carbon dioxide," Dr. Drake says.
Conventional asthma treatments usually require the use of a broncho-dilator, which opens the breathing passages. Buteyko is nearly the opposite; it is designed to recondition breathing and reduce the total volume of air breathed per minute to normal levels.
"This method is contrary to everything we've ever learned about breathing," says Alyssa Slomovic, whose 10-year-old son, Chaim, suffers from asthma. What they learned was that Chaim should be breathing deeply through his mouth and that he should take more medicine when he feels an attack coming on. "It's upsetting," says Chaim, "because everything the doctors give you makes you worse." By practicing the Buteyko method of taking shallow breaths through the nose, Chaim is able to run, he sleeps better, and his concentration in school has improved.
"I'm confused, to be honest," says his mother. "I have nothing except my own observations to verify it."
She is not alone. Heidi, whose three children suffer from asthma and other symptoms, finds it equally baffling. "It's wild; their noses are so clear now," she says.
While the Buteyko method boasts a 90 percent success rate in patients, it is not a medical treatment and practitioners encourage patients to continue medical treatment. Buteyko is taught in workshops, which cost $450 for five sessions, including individual meetings with a certified Buteyko instructor if necessary. A full refund is guaranteed if there is no improvement in breathing.
Buteyko practitioner training - New York, Toronto, Chicago. How to become a buteyko practitioner.
Buteyko Breathing for Health
by Rosalba Courtney, ND, DO, DipAc, CA
The importance of Breathing in Health and Disease
Breathing is one of our most important functions and plays a large part in the patterns of disease and health. Most doctors and health care practitioners know little about how people in optimal health breathe in comparison to those suffering from some illness. However breathing can be implicated in 50-70% of diseases as a causative or contributing factor according to Dr Charles Stroebel, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Medical School.1 Dr Konstantin Buteyko, former head of the Laboratory of Functional Diagnostics in the Siberian Soviet Academy of Sciences identifies 150 diseases as being associated with breathing.2
Amazingly some of the most effective breathing techniques which enhance heath and control symptoms of disease involve reducing the amount of ventilation or breathing air with reduced oxygen pressure.
The Buteyko method, Intermittent Hypoxic Breathing Training and Eucapnic Breathing all use intermittent hypoventilation and have been used to successfully treat conditions as varied as Asthma, Chronic Fatigue, Sleep Apnea, Infertility, Immune Dysfunction and Allergy, Obesity, Angina and Hypertension.
Breathing – Physiological Tool for Transformation?
When we look closely at the way breathing affects our physiology we see why such a broad range of effects come about from working with breathing.
We are all aware that without oxygen we quickly die. Of major importance is the fact that it is not how much oxygen we breathe that matters as much as how much is effectively utilised by the cells of our body. A deeper understanding of the role that breathing can play as a healing tool also comes from understanding the pivotal role that carbon dioxide and pH plays in numerous homeostatic processes in the body, including regulation of tissue oxygen levels and the functioning of numerous biochemical processes.
Hyperventilation – "When less is more and more is less"
Most people equate good breathing with deep diaphragmatic breathing. Most breathing techniques used to enhance health have encouraged people to take large lung fulls of air. The aims being to thus fill the body with life giving oxygen. In Russia over the last 30 years profound healing effects have been seen when people are taught to breathe less for certain specified periods of time. The aim of intermittently reducing the volume of breathing is to train the body to adapt itself to higher levels of carbon dioxide and to have an increased tolerance to hypoxia. The end result of this is that the person develops an improved capacity to utilise oxygen and maintain homeostasis.
The most common dysfunction that occurs in breathing in people who don’t suffer from the more serious forms of organic lung disease and including conditions such as asthma is actually Hyperventilation. Medical textbooks tend to focus on lack of oxygen and accumulation of carbon dioxide as the only important factors in disease; however, in the case of breathing often "less is more". Recent authors who discuss Hyperventilation in popular books written in English are Dr Robert Fried The Breath Connection3 and Dinah Bradley Hyperventilation Syndrome.4
The pathophysiology of Hyperventilation and the subsequent depletion of carbon dioxide and alkaline reserve has been described in the medical literature since soon after the turn of the century and the recognition of Hyperventilation symptom patterns has existed since the time of Hippocrates. Some of the early important writers include JS Haldane in 1922 and Henderson in 1925. It is considered that at least 1 in 10 of healthy people Hyperventilate,7 the percentage would be expected to be much higher in those with symptoms or chronic illness. Yet Hyperventilation goes mostly undetected and inadequately treated.
The breathing techniques discussed in this article all correct chronic Hyperventilation by retraining the breathing control centre in the brain.
Hyperventilation and Asthma
Asthma is one condition which responds with dramatic results when the Hyperventilation which accompanies this condition is controlled. The Buteyko method of breathing states that asthma is largely a response to Hyperventilation and teaches asthmatics how to reduce ventilation levels and raise CO2 to initially control symptoms and later to change the underlying immune system and inflammatory condition in asthma. A recent research trial in Australia on the Buteyko method showed that asthmatics were able to reduce their bronchodilator intake by 90% and steroids by 30% with no deterioration in symptom score and improved quality of life scores when using the Buteyko breathing method.19
Buteyko ideas run contrary to currently held medical views about asthma; however the recognition of Hyperventilation as a factor in asthma is not new. Herxheimer, author of numerous papers on bronchial asthma including one in the Lancet linked Hyperventilation and asthma as far back as 1946.8 Investigators such as McFadden,9 Sterling10 and van den Elshout,11 Clark12and others in recent times have shown the links between Hyperventilation, carbon dioxide depletion and asthma.
The Link Between Breathing and other Diseases
People can develop a large number of symptoms with Hyperventilation. These can affect all the major systems of the body including the nervous, circulatory, digestive and respiratory systems.13 Many medical conditions have been linked with breathing. In Dr Fried’s excellent and well referenced book on the Hyperventilation Syndrome3 he gives details of the way that hyperventilation is linked with conditions such as epilepsy, migraine, angina, hypertension, heart rhythm irregularity, brain hypoxia and mental disorders.
Basic physiology tells us that if we increase ventilation or breathing above the body’s needs we lose too much CO2. Because CO2 and bicarbonate are the most important controllers of pH this becomes disturbed. Initially there is a condition known as respiratory alkalosis but over time a compensatory metabolic acidosis can develop because of secondary loss of bicarbonate. The respiratory alkalosis is accompanied by a state of tissue hypoxia. This is due to something called the Bohr effect which basically means that as pH becomes more alkaline due to a drop in CO2, oxygen binds more strongly to oxygen and is not easily released to tissues. The alkalosis also means that nervous tissue becomes more irritable and smooth muscles constrict. Oxygen levels also drop as small blood vessels (containing smooth muscle) constrict in response to this alkalosis. The effects of this tissue hypoxia are of particular importance in organs like the brain where Hyperventilation can result in a 30% decrease in oxygen. It is known that depletion of oxygen to the brain is associated with changes in brain wave patterns and this can play a part in conditions such as epilepsy, panic attacks and cognitive dysfunction.
The heart muscle shows similar susceptibility. Angina and heart irregularity can also in some people be explained by the fact that depletion of carbon dioxide results in constriction of the smooth muscle of the blood vessels feeding the heart. Circulation and blood flow to the heart are reduced substantially. The heart muscle itself becomes more irritable and prone to irregularity. Hypertension in some cases is helped with learning breathing control because as pH normalises constriction in the smooth muscles of the arteries is relieved. Also in some people depletion of minerals like magnesium, potassium and calcium come about from the secondary compensatory mechanisms that come into play in alkalosis. Depletion of these minerals are know to contribute to Hypertension.
Hyperventilation can also be a perpetuating factor in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, being associated with a decreased anaerobic threshold, impaired energy production in the mitochondria and lactate accumulation in muscle. British cardiologist Dr PGF Nixon has drawn parallels between CFS and the condition previously known as Effort Syndrome that afflicted soldiers suffering from battle fatigue.14,15 Many athletes with over-training syndrome actually suffer from a type of Hyperventilation syndrome with depletion of bicarbonate buffers and glutamine showing a disfunction of pH.
It is considered by many psychologists familiar with the condition of Hyperventilation that all of the physical symptoms of anxiety are related to Hyperventilation.1 Hyperventilation is frequently provoked and sustained by anxiety and chronic unresolved stress.16 Working with breathing can modify the stress response. This gives one the tools and ability to modify their own anxiety response increasing the sense of control which is so important in decreasing the health damaging effects of stress.
The Buteyko Method
Russian physician Dr K.P. Buteyko developed the theory that chronic Hyperventilation and subsequent depletion of carbon dioxide lead to the development of defensive reactions of the body. The defence mechanisms which develop are attempts by the organism to limit the further exhalation and loss of CO2. He also states that disease may occur either:
1. as a change in body function due to deficiency of CO2or
2. as the defensive reaction of the organism to the removal of CO2
The Buteyko method assesses the degree of depletion of CO2 by measuring the length of breath holding time.
Another of Dr Buteyko’s unique contributions is the use of restrained under breathing to the point of experiencing a sensation of light lack of air for prolonged periods of time. The Buteyko method also utilises systemic breath holding. The rationale given is that it allows the rapid accumulation of CO2 levels. This allows homeostatic mechanisms that have adapted to habitual low levels of CO2 due to chronic hyperventilation to normalise.
Hypoventilation/Hypoxic Breathing: A Russian Contribution
The possibility exists that the success of underbreathing and breathholding in modifying many disease processes also has to do with the fact that the body is being trained to tolerate hypoxia, making it ultimately able to better utilise oxygen. Athletes know that training at altitude can enhance performance at sea levels. I personally remember feeling better than I have ever felt after returning to low altitude after adaptation to high altitude in the Himalayas.
The use of intermittent hypoxic breathing training was developed by other Russian doctors such Professor Assya Kolchinskaja and Professor R.S. Vinitskaja of the Commission for Advanced Medical Technologies of the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation. Dr Kolchinskaja writes, "My personal research, the studies of my colleagues and the work of other medical researchers standing for Hypoxic therapy share the belief that disease can be treated or prevented by activation of compensatory mechanisms (pulmonary ventilation, blood circulation, haemoglobin production), responsible for oxygen supply to the tissues and cells." She continues, "The cell of the person after being given hypoxic training will utilise even more oxygen than in the case of being given Hyperoxia."17
Hypoxic Breathing in Infertility
Hypoxic training was applied in over 3000 patients for diseases like neurotic disturbance, pulmonary diseases, allergic conditions, angina, female gynaecological disease and skin disease. One research trial was conducted where 49 infertile women suffering from a range of gynaecological conditions where given hypoxic training (involving breathing an air mixture low in oxygen for a period of time daily), 48 of the 49 women became pregnant and delivered healthy children. Cancer patients using this treatment were found to have an increased resistance to radiation treatment. A device called a hypoxicator delivers low oxygen metered pressure. Overall treatment sessions last for about ˝ hour daily. The person inhales the low oxygen mixture for short periods of time, the doses are repeated frequently throughout the session and normal air is breathed in between.17
Eucapnic Breathing an Holistic Approach
Our levels of health, state of physical fitness, stress levels and nutritional status will impact significantly on breathing. Often it is impossible to change breathing long term unless these other issues are addressed. A highly stressed and unfit individual will be constantly reinforcing the pattern that led to the Hyperventilation pattern of breathing initially. The highly allergic individual with mineral deficiency will also be driven to hyperventilate because of the condition of the intra-cellular environment and the level of inflammation in their systems. A number of practitioners working with breathing who work with this holistic approach describe themselves as Eucapnic-Buteyko practitioners. The term Eucapnic breathing denotes the use of breathing techniques that aim to normalise carbon dioxide. The concepts of Eucapnic breathing are developed from the Buteyko method but the approach of practitioners is broader and more eclectic. There is greater flexibility in breathing techniques used with the emphasis on Hypoventilation techniques which encourage adaptive, homeostatic change in the body. The importance of general health measures such as nutrition, exercise and stress reduction are emphasised.
References
1. Fried R., The Hyperventilation Syndrome, Research and Clinical Treatment, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1987.
2. Buteyko K.P., Buteyko Method; Experience of Application in Medical Practice. Patriot, Moscow, 1990.
3. Fried R, The Breath Connection, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1990.
4. Bradley D. Hyperventilation Syndrome, Tandem Press, New Zealand, 1992.
5. Haldane J. S., Respiration, Yale University Press, 1922.
6. Henderson Y., Physiological Regulation of the Acid-Base Balance of the blood and some Related Functions, Physical Review 5: 131 (April) 1925.
7. Huey and Secherest, 1981, quoted by Robert Fried, The Hyperventilation Syndrome, John Hopkins University Press, 1987.
8. Herxheimer, Hyperventilation Asthma, Lancet, 6386: 83-87 1946.
9. Mc Fadden et al, Arterial Blood Gas Tension in Asthma, New England Journal of Medicine, 278:19, 1027-1032 1968.
10. Sterling, The Mechanism of Bronchoconstriction due to Hypocapnia in Man, Clinical Science, 34: 277-285 1968.
11. van den Elshout, Effects of Hypercapnia and Hypocapnia on Respiratory Resistance in Normal and Asthmatic Subjects; Thorax, 46: 28-32 1991.
12. P.S. Clark, Asthma, hyperventilation and emotion, Australian Family Physician, 9, 715-719 1980.
13. L.C Lum, The syndrome of chronic habitual Hyperventilation In: Hill OW, ed. Modern Trends in Psychosomatic Medicine, 3, London , Butterworth, 196-230 1976.
14. Nixon PGF, Effort Syndrome, hyperventilation and reduction of anaerobic threshold. Biofeedback and Self Regulation 19: 155-69 1994.
15. Nixon PGF. Hyperventilation and chronic fatigue syndrome. QJ Med 88: 73-4 1995.
16. Timmons B. A Brief History of the Annual International Symposium on Respiratory Psychophysiology and Summary of the 1993 Workshop, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, Vol. 19, No.2, 1994.
17. Popov V., Hypoxia as Essential Healing Factor in Clinical Medicine in Russia, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, August/September; 87-91 1996.
18. Ivanov, S.D., Nunn, J.F., Influence of duration of hyperventilation on rise time of PCO2 after step reduction in ventilation. Resp. Physiol. 4, 243 1968.
19. Bowler S., Green A, Mitchell C, Buteyko Breathing Techniques in Asthma, a blinded randomised controlled trial; MJA, Vol. 169, p575-578 1998.
