The international physiological norm for breathing at rest is 6 l/min for a 70-kg man. People with asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and many other degenerative conditions chronically breathe about 2-3 times more air and suffer from … tissue hypoxia (low body oxygenation). Consider this table:

Table 1.1 Minute ventilation of patients with different health problems.
(from the book: Normal breathing: the key to vital health by Dr. Artour Rakhimov

There are many other studies that found "big" breathing in patients with arthritis, cancer, COPD, chronic fatigue, insomnia, etc. However, if you ask a typical asthmatic or heart patient about their breathing, they will tell you that their breathing is light and easy. It is only during heart or asthma attacks, when they breathe about 4-6 times more than the norm, they acknowledge their big breathing.

Why is “big” breathing dangerous? All available medical evidence (thousands of publications) tells us that the more we breathe, the less oxygenation of our tissues. This simple fact is easy to check. How? There are 2 methods.

First, check it yourself. Start to breathe very heavy in and out just for 1-2 minutes, and you can lose consciousness (faint or pass out) due to hypoxia and low blood supply for the brain. Physiological studies found that brain blood supply and oxygenation is reduced by about 40% after 1 minute of heavy breathing.

Second, you can observe breathing of people at rest. You will see that healthy people breathe very little (their breathing is invisible and inaudible) and they have normal body oxygenation. Breathing of the sick can be seen and often heard (sighing, coughing, sneezing, yawning, sniffing, etc.). Moreover, you can easily measure oxygenation levels in people using a simple test: stress-free breath holding time after exhalation. How is it done?

Check your breathing!

After your usual exhale, pinch your nose and count your BHT (breath holding time) in seconds. Keep nose pinched until you experience the first desire to breathe. Practice shows that this first desire appears together with an involuntary push of the diaphragm or swallowing movement in the throat. (Your body warns you, “Enough!”) If you release the nose and start breathing at this time, you can resume your usual breathing pattern (in the same way as you were breathing prior to the test). Do not extend breath holding too long. This is the most common mistake. You should not gasp for air or open your mouth when you release your nose. The test should be easy and not cause you any stress. The BHT test does not interfere with your usual breathing.

[Warning. Some, not all, people with heart disease, migraine headaches, and panic attacks may experience negative symptoms minutes later after this light version of the test. If this happens, they should avoid this test.]

Why does the test matter? The test reflects body oxygenation, the key factor in cancer, heart disease, asthma, fatigue, sleeping problems and many other conditions.

Thousands of studies found the following numbers.

Severely sick, critically and terminally ill patients, usually hospitalized: 1-10 s.

Sick patients with numerous complaints and, often, on daily medication: 10-20 s.

People with poor health, but often without serious organic problems: 20-40 s.

Good and excellent health: over 40 s.

Restoration of oxygenation and normal breathing parameters, including breath holding time, are the main goals of the Buteyko breathing method. The method was developed by Russian Doctor Konstantin Buteyko, who trained about 200 Russian medical professionals to apply this therapy for various health conditions. These doctors found that if the patient manages to normalize main parameters of breathing, no symptoms and no medication are required for asthma, bronchitis, heart disease, and many other conditions. 

There are 2 parts in his system: breathing exercises and common sense activities, which, as they found, influence breathing. For example, when we breathe through the mouth or sleep on the back at night, our oxygenation index can drop almost 2 times! In relation to other activities, Doctor Buteyko even suggested simple rules for better oxygenation: “Eat only when hungry and stop in time”, “Go to sleep when really sleepy and get out of  the bed in the morning”, “Exercise with nasal breathing only”, etc. Many other factors are useful for better oxygenation, as Russian doctors found, for example, raw diets, good posture, normal thermoregulation, relaxation and meditation therapys, forgiveness, moderation, hatha yoga postures, cold shower for healthy people, etc.

While Russians doctors accumulated huge clinical experience, very little was translated on English. My educational website www.normalbreathing.com has some translations of original Russian publications devoted to this drug-free therapy.