Russian scientist and medical doctor Konstantin Buteyko, in 1952, discovered that the real cause of asthma and other related diseases is a radical depletion of CO2 - carbon dioxide - in the lungs. This isn't so strange when we learn that oxygen cannot be assimilated by cells without adequate amounts of CO2. There is only 0.03% carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today. Yet to absorb oxygen a healthy body requires about 6.5% carbon dioxide in the alveoli of the lungs. Therefore your lungs act to trap in some of the carbon dioxide produced by your body. Should the level of carbon dioxide in human lungs fall to 3%, it is fatal.
According to Buteyko's research, asthmatics and sufferers of other related conditions have adopted a breathing pattern which causes them to release more carbon dioxide than they produce. To prevent the level from dropping to far, the body has developed certain defence mechanisms. These include constriction of the bronchial muscles and increased production of mucus in the membranes of the breathing passages.
Signs of overbreathing are lightheadedness, dizziness,
poor concentration, shortness of breath, over sensitivity of the airways,
excessive production of mucus, blocked or runny nose, mouth breathing,
palpitations, skipped heart beats, muscular spasms, different degrees of
anxiety, tension, apprehension, fatigue, insomnia, abdominal bloating,
loss of consciousness, and the list goes on!
His conclusion was that the trigger factors were secondary and that the primary cause was incorrect breathing - usually acquired through trauma, injury or infection.
Breathing is neither taught nor learned. It is a function of the body that we just do naturally, without thought or effort. But it is also taken for granted and incorrect habits can be developed.
Traditional treatments only offer band-aid relief for symptoms as they do not touch the real cause - overbreathing.
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