Nexus - 1301 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

Fortunately for people with conditions such as asthma, recognises that acute hyperventilation can mimic asthma attacks migraine, panic attacks, snoring, sleep apnoea and allergies, Dr in up to 42 per cent of asthmatics.“ But the Buteyko theory Buteyko remained interested in how breathing affects the health. says that hyperventilation is not only a result of narrowed airways He continued to develop not only his theory that modern life acts but causes the airway narrowing in the first place, and if the like a stress on the human body, causing a rise in the automatic person were breathing normally then it would not occur. breathing pattern and a drop in good health, but also the way to There are two kinds of hyperventilation: acute, and chronic or reverse this problem. He developed a series of techniques based low-grade. The acute type is easily recognisable because the on special principles about breathing, diet and exercise that turn breathing is usually rapid, noisy or with obvious movement in the the conventional thoughts of asthma upside down. torso. While considering airway narrowing as a legitimate and poten- The kind of hyperventilation that Dr Buteyko recognised is the tially dangerous concern, the Buteyko practitioner also looks on subtler, low-grade kind that he called "hidden hyperventilation". the narrowing as part of the solution to This type of hyperventilation was first the problem. According to Buteyko discovered during the American Civil theory,’'*! airway narrowing occurs War, when soldiers were sick but the for at least three reasons: Buteyko's theory works doctor treating them (Dr Da Costa) 1. To keep irritants, bacteria and . could find nothing physically wron, other foreign materials out of the air- around the premise that the with them.” Since then, it has had var ways. Every time foreign particles asthmatic habitually breathes ious names including "Da Costa's syn- enter the airways they cause scarring, . drome", "effort syndrome", "chronic resulting in the airways losing tone with more force or more hyperventilation syndrome" and even and crastcity To Keep foreign matter rapidly than is necessary the "fat fo der’ syndrome”, because the out of the airways, or at least to keep i A patient has so many tests for various in one place while building a defence, almost all the time. ailments that their medical file the immune system creates excessive bulges.” amounts of mucus, airway inflamma- Breathing largely goes unnoticed tion and smooth muscle spasm. until there is a problem with it, because 2. To prevent the cooling and drying of the airways that over- most of the time it is taken care of by the primitive part of the breathing causes. brain. However, it can be deliberately altered, such as during 3. To prevent the excessive loss of carbon dioxide that is speech or when diving into water. caused by breathing too much air each minute. Hyperventilation is defined as breathing more air than is It is the third point that is largely ignored by asthma required to complete an activity; it does not necessarily mean researchers. breathing excessively quickly or deeply. A healthy adult breathes around 12 times a minute, inhaling approximately five litres of air Hyperventilation and Asthma by doing so.® An example of hyperventilation is breathing 20 Conventional asthma management recognises that times a minute, which could cause around eight litres of air to be hyperventilation plays a role in asthma, but primarily sees it as a breathed. When done over a week, 30,000 litres of extra air will result of the narrowed airways rather than as a cause.” It also have been breathed—enough to fill a small swimming pool. No one notices if a person breathes every three seconds instead of every five, unless perhaps the breathing is —)\ noisy. However, your body is aware of it, because (7 breathing like this can be almost relentless. It gradually ‘ lowers the amount of carbon dioxide found in the lungs fa = _ and the bloodstream, setting off any of the following ° ! symptoms:™”! ¢ Respiratory system: Shortness of breath, chest tight- ness, extra-sensitive airways, excessive production of mucus, sneezing, long-term blocked or running sinuses, coughing, excessive yawning and sighing. ¢ Nervous system: Light-headedness, dizziness, unsteadiness, poor concentration, numbness, tingling and coldness especially in the hands, feet and face. In severe cases, loss of memory or loss of consciousness. ¢ Heart: Racing, pounding or skipped heartbeats. * Psychological: Degrees of anxiety, depression, ten- sion, apprehension or feeling "spaced out". * General: Dry mouth, abdominal bloating, belching, flatulence, easily tired, poor sleep patterns, sweaty palms, Sewer Ihe repeated throat-clearing, itchy skin, chest pain (not heart- ~ related), headache, general weakness and chronic "This is a burned CD of downloaded websites listing online retailers exhaustion. of self-help DVDs that show you how to find a REAL shop The symptoms are many and varied because breathing where you can buy a book." affects the entire body and people experience some symp- toms more than others. recognises that acute hyperventilation can mimic asthma attacks in up to 42 per cent of asthmatics.“ But the Buteyko theory says that hyperventilation is not only a result of narrowed airways but causes the airway narrowing in the first place, and if the person were breathing normally then it would not occur. There are two kinds of hyperventilation: acute, and chronic or low-grade. The acute type is easily recognisable because the breathing is usually rapid, noisy or with obvious movement in the + Buteyko's theory works around the premise that the asthmatic habitually breathes Br rapidly than is necessary almost all the time. Hyperventilation and Asthma Conventional asthma management recognises that hyperventilation plays a role in asthma, but primarily sees it as a result of the narrowed airways rather than as a cause.” It also "This is a burned CD of downloaded websites listing online retailers of self-help DVDs that show you how to find a REAL shop where you can buy a book." 36 = NEXUS with more force or more www.nexusmagazine.com DECEMBER 2005 — JANUARY 2006