The Control Pause
I believe that by now you have a clearer understanding of breathing. As you already know, your goal is to teach your body to breathe correctly so that the level of carbon dioxide in your blood will normalize (that is, go up to about 6.5%). The process of assessing your current carbon dioxide level is very simple. For that, you should take your control pause.
How to do a control pause
The idea behind the control pause is that you should hold your breath until it becomes uncomfortable, but not for as long as possible. If you do it for as long as possible, it would be your maximum pause, which for now you shouldnt attempt. The maximum pause is very much like trying to lift the heaviest weight possible, or run the longest possible distance. You wouldnt try that during your first workout, would you? No, youd probably train for some time until you felt strong enough to test your ability to the fullest. Besides, you realise that lifting the heaviest weight or running the longest distance are not really necessary for training. Many people who jog every morning have never attempted to break any records, and yet they are healthy and feel great. The maximum pause doesnt train; it only tests what you can do when pushed to your limits. Besides, after a maximum pause many people take a deep breath, which, as you know, is harmful. So for now, we will not do it and will concentrate on the control pause instead. The important thing about a control pause is that you should be able to resume your normal breathing after it without gasping for air. Think of it as an ordinary pause that people take between breaths, only longer. So, the correctly done control pause will last until you feel the desire to take a breath, and then youll just resume breathing in your normal fashion.
Before we start, you should know that breathing exercises should always be done with an empty stomach (or at least a couple of hours after a meal). If you have just eaten, your breathing becomes deeper, and its much more difficult to do the exercises. It also affects the length of your control pause. In other words, just as you wouldnt run right after a meal, dont attempt breathing exercises right after a meal. Another very important thing: you should always breathe through your nose. Nature has created this organ for breathing. It is true that we can breathe through the mouth, but breathing throught the nose is better for the following reasons. First, it is much easier to overbreathe when you breathe through your mouth. Nose breathing tends to measure smaller amounts of air, which is good. In addition to that, air is warmed and filtered when it goes through the nose. Some people have trouble breathing through the nose because it is blocked. Later you will learn how to unblock it.
So, lets take the control pause. I assume that your stomach is empty. If you are not sitting now, sit down and wait until your breath calms down. Take a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand. Then, after your normal exhalation, hold your breath, for which you should keep your mouth closed and your nose pinched. (Please note: NEVER take a pause after you breathe IN. You should ONLY do it after you breathe OUT.) Mark the time as you start. Wait until it becomes uncomfortable, mark the time again and take your normal breath. It will be a little strained, of course, but it shouldnt become a gasp for air. If you are able to breathe after the pause without gasping, you did it correctly.
In other words, your control pause is the maximum time you can hold your breath without the need to take a deep breath after it.
How to interpret results
Now we need to interpret the results. You already know that the level of carbon dioxide in your blood should be 6.5 percent. This corresponds to a control pause of 40-60 seconds in untrained people. Untrained means that you havent done any breathing exercises yet. If you were able to pause your breathing for 40 seconds or longer and then resume it without gasping my congratulations, your breathing is perfect. If your control pause is longer than 60 seconds and yet you suffer from some kind of disease, it obviously couldnt be a disease caused by lack of CO2. However, you can try treating it with the breathing exercises. They will raise the level of carbon dioxide in your blood still higher, which is always a good thing for the body.
Now, if your control pause is shorter than 40 seconds, your blood doesnt contain enough carbon dioxide. For example, if its 30 seconds, you have 5.7 percent CO2 in your blood, so you lack 0.8 percent. If its 20 seconds, you lack one and a half percent. If its 10 seconds, you lack 2.3 percent. If its less than 10 seconds, the content of carbon dioxide in your blood is dangerously low. You need to start the training today!
Unblocking Your Nose and Preventing an Attack of the Disease
If your nose is blocked, you need to unblock it. Breathing through your mouth is like speaking with your nose. Remember: your nose is for breathing, and your mouth is for eating and talking.
Why breathe through the nose?
There are several advantages to breathing through the nose. First, this organ was specifically created for breathing. Look at animals, cats, for example: you will never see them breathing through the mouth. When the air goes through your nose, it is filtered of dust particles, warmed and moisturized. On the other hand, when you breathe in through your mouth, the air irritates your throat and bronchs because it is supplied as is, without the necessary preparation.
The second reason is more subtle. Most people do not realize that mouth breathing tends to measure too large amounts of air, which leads to hyperventilation (overbreathing). Chronic overbreathing leads to diseases even though the amount of the air inhaled might be only a little more than what we need. On the other hand, the nose measures smaller portions of air to be inhaled, so nose breathing is less likely to lead to hyperventilation.
Why does the nose get blocked?
Sometimes we have a blocked nose. What does it mean? Why does it happen? By blocking the nose, the body tries to limit the amount or air that we breathe. Think of it: when you are healthy and breathe well, your nose is free and air goes in and out unobstructed. But when you get ill (especially in the cases of colds, flu, asthma, etc.), your nose is blocked. Why is that? Because your body tries to tell you: Please breathe less! I need less air! You can easily check this to see that it is correct. My nose only get blocked when I have a cold (it happens once or twice a year, but not because I am chronically ill: I train with weights and sometimes I simply overtrain, which leads to a breakdown in the immunity, and I have a cold the next day). When that happens, I always take pauses throughout the day. It is enough for me to stop breathing for 15 or 20 seconds, and my nose opens up, even though just a minute ago it seemed to be blocked as tight as possible. I am able to breathe through it for a few minutes, and then it slowly closes up again. I do another pause and it gets unblocked again, etc. I repeat this for a few days while I have the symptoms of a cold. I never take any pills in these situations I simply wait for my body to defeat the cold on its own.
The nose gets blocked when blood vessels in it constrict. Many people use nose drops that dilate blood vessels in the nose and bring relief for some time. But this treatment is external and symptomatic only. It doesnt remove the primary cause of the blocked nose: constriction of blood vessels brought about by lack of carbon dioxide. Actually, carbon dioxide is a natural dilator of blood vessels and bronchs. If you enrich your blood with it, the spasms of blood vessels will go away.
How can you unblock your nose?
So, to unblock your nose, all you need to do is exhale and hold your breath. Start with a control pause. If it doesnt help, repeat it after a couple of minutes, but add a few seconds to it. This time you will need to bear stronger lack of air than during the control pause. Dont worry: this is not a maximum pause yet. Some people report that their noses get unblocked after the first control pause, others say that the second, longer pause is needed. If your condition is really bad, you may need a third and a fourth pause, longer than your control pause. You may want to walk around while doing this long pause, or even do a few squats. The purpose of that is to make your muscles work and produce additional carbon dioxide.
Most people will be able to unblock their noses by following this procedure. Some of you might find that even doing a near-to-maximum pause with walking or squatting doesnt do the trick. These are usually the most seriosly ill patients. If you are one of them, dont worry: your nose will get unblocked, but it may require more than one day.
Why do attacks happen?
Doing a longer pause is also a great tool in preventing an attack of your disease, if, of course, it is the kind of disease that brings about attacks. If you suffer from asthma or arterial hypertension, this will be especially helpful to you.
Have you ever thought why attacks happen? Most asthmatics (and their doctors) say that attacks happen because the person comes in contact with an allergen. This causes bronchoconstriction and so the attack begins. The question that arises is: why dont other people have attacks when they contact the same allergen? Some people are alleric to the same substance, but they dont have asthmatic attacks. There is another question: how about asthmatics who have no allergic reactions whatsoever, but nevertheless have attacks?
The culprit: overbreathing
These questions still puzzle researchers. However, the Russian Dr.Buteyko found the answer a long time ago. He claims that asthmatics chronically overbreathe, and the attacks (which are basically periods of bronchoconstiction) are attempts of the body to stop hyperventilation and preserve CO2 that is still present in their lungs and blood. Think of this fact: a century ago deaths from asthma were virtually unknown. On the contrary, asthmatics were among the longest living people in the world. Yes, they suffered during attacks, but no one died. Then bronchodilators appeared. They stop the bronchospasm quickly, and the asthmatic continues to breathe (and overbreathe). CO2 is still lost and the next attack is guaranteed to be even worse. And people began to die from asthma.
Stop breathing to stop an attack
Now you understand what you should do during an attack. Instead of using a puffer, you should stop breathing. You cant breathe during an attack anyway, because your body is desperately trying to hold on to whatever CO2 is left. So help it! When you feel that an attack is beginning, take a pause (a control pause or a bit longer) followed by a couple of minutes of reduced breathing, then repeat the pause. If this doesnt work, do another two or three minutes of very shallow breathing and another pause. Some people need to repeat this cycle a few times. Usually this is enough to stop the onset of an attack. If not, you still have your medication that you can take. But how about dealing with an attack without medication? Isnt that great? As you go along with the training, you will find it progressively easier to control your condition without medications.
In fact, you can consider yourself a winner if you have been able to stop an attack without drugs. This will give you enough self-confidence and let you work through the exercises with more assurance of success. After all, you have nothing to lose except your disease and drugs!
E-mail your request to asthmacure@mail.perm.ru