Breathing Problems Solved
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How to Stop or Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke, Acute Asthma,

Seizures, and Other Life-Threatening Situations

using Buteyko Emergency Procedure

(4-A. Shallow Breathing or Shallow Breath or Reduced breathing exercise)

Medical doctors smilingInstead of frequent and deep breathing, you need a slower and shallower breathing pattern. It is called "shallow breathing" or "shallow breath" or "reduced breathing". This is the main Buteyko breathing method exercise. Very heavy breathing and low body oxygenation are possible when: 1) you take large inhalations; 2) they forcefully exhale air out of the lungs, instead of simple relaxation of all breathing muscles to produce quiet natural exhale; 3) you are likely to breathe using your chest, not the diaphragm.

Learn more here, if you missed this important idea: 4 regular breathing patterns and corresponding body oxygen levels.

Hence, one should take smaller inhalations using their tummy and then relax all breathing muscles for exhalations as shown here:

Woman practicing breathing exercises - 1. Relax all your muscles in any comfortable position with a straight spine, which is favorable for complete relaxation. Such relaxation normally produces quiet spontaneous exhalation.

- 2. At the end of this exhalation, pinch your nose with two fingers and hold your breath for about 1-2 seconds.

- 3. Since the feeling of air hunger at the end of this breath holding is not strong, take in (or inhale) less air than you did before (“breathe less”) but using the tummy mainly or only

- 4. For exhalation, you need just to relax, while keeping all breathing muscles, including chest-shoulders and diaphragm muscles, completely relaxed.

- 5. Again, take in (or inhale) small amount of air (“breathe less”).

- 6. And just relax all the body.

CO2 model- 7. Continue to breathe in such a shallow relaxed manner, with constant air hunger for about 1 minute.

Repeat again and again this 1 minute cycle from steps 2 to 6: short breath hold (1-2 s) – smaller inhalation – relaxation of all muscles for exhalations. In other words, every minute you do short breath holds (1-2 s) and RB (reduced breathing) between them, as shown here:
Breath hold (1-2 s) - Reduced breathing (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -…

About your medication

medication, continue the Emergency Procedure. Monitoring the severity of the symptoms. If it is still not possible to stop an attack (e.g., angina pectoris), again take 1/3 of your usual dose. Do the Emergency Procedure once more. Russian medical doctors and practitioners found that most patients could eliminate their symptoms in 1-5 minutes (Buteyko, 1977).

Optional: Additional practical recommendations in order to have better relaxation

Landscape with lake and mountains When you are not sure about chest-shoulders-neck-jaws muscles, tense them maximally or almost maximally for 1-2 s and, then, relax. That can be done with the whole area of muscles or, if difficult, with separate muscular groups, one by one.

Using such tensing-relaxing, clearly and vividly visualize your body or body parts, first, during tensing, as a steel spring, which is hard and strong, and seconds later, during relaxation, as a large soft piece of dough, or jelly fish or CO2 molecule floating above the ocean. Other images, of course, can be used, e.g., during tensing, as an over-inflated water-filled balloon, resilient and firm, which suddenly loses pressure and becomes soft and shapeless and filled with air during relaxation.

Group practicing breathing exercisesSince muscular tension during the breathing exercises should be experienced only in the area of the diaphragm, one can imagine and visualize how all tension, stress and pressure descend or slide down from the head, neck, shoulders, and chest to the area around the diaphragm.

You can massage this area (chest-shoulders-neck-jaws muscles) with your hands or, if you have a relative or friend around, ask him/her to do that.

During the Emergency Procedure, the relaxation of the diaphragm and skeletal muscles is possible, only if the amount of air in the lungs is near the physiological volume (such a lung state is achieved, when people suddenly lose their consciousness or are properly relaxed). Having more air in the lungs is undesirable, due to the appearance of tightness in respiratory muscles. Keep in mind that Buteyko breathing method exercises allow maximum time spent in a state of relaxation for all muscles of the body. This is also true for "reduced breathing" ("shallow breathing" or "shallow breath").

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
CO2: Best Natural Cough Suppressant and "home remedy" since it calms urge-to-cough nerve receptors located in the tracheobronchial tree and larynx
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic?

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