Main Benefits of Physical Activity: More Oxygen in Cells
Main benefits of physical activity relate to increased body oxygenation at rest. Therefore, correct physical exercise produces profound effects on physical health, emotional well-being and lifestyle choices.
| Lifestyle factor: | Body oxygen < 30 s | Body oxygen > 50 s |
| Energy level | Medium, low, or very low | High |
| Desire to exercise | Not strong, but possible | Craving and joy of exercise |
| Intensive exercise with nose breathing | Hard or impossible | Easy and effortless |
| Typical mind states | Confusion, anxiety, depression | Focus, concentration, clarity |
| Craving for coffee, sugar and junk foods | Present | Absent |
| Addictions to smoking, alcohol, and drugs | Possible | Absent |
| Desire to eat raw foods | Weak and rare | Very common and natural |
| Correct posture | Rare and requires efforts | Natural and automatic |
| Sleep | Often of poor quality; > 7 hours | Excellent quality; < 5 hours naturally |
Since a lack of physical exercise
or sedentary lifestyle is the main
risk lifestyle factor causing poor health in modern man, it is normal that the daily duration of physical activity has a
correlation with the personal body oxygen test measured in the morning. More
exercise, that is done with nose breathing only, is the excellent way to mimic
high altitude training and
increase body oxygen levels that is measured by the body oxygen test.
About 180 Russian medical doctors tested thousands of their patients and
found the main benefits of physical activity. When their
patients achieved high body oxygen test results and stopped doing breathing exercises, their
long-term body oxygen test numbers were linked to the amount of daily physical exercise,
even in cases when these students continued to control their breath
throughout the day. In other words, they found that
physical
exercise is the lifestyle key factor to increase body oxygenation.
Below is a table that is based on observations related to physical activity benefits. This table shows a link between the duration of daily physical activity and maximum expected body oxygen levels for experienced students who do some breath work (e.g., about 1 hour of breathing exercises per day).
Table . Benefits of physical exercise: higher body oxygen level
| Duration of physical exercise per day | Maximum body O2 expected |
| 0 min | 15 s |
| 30 min | 20 s |
| 60 min | 25 s |
| 1 hour of devoted PE + 1 hour others | 30 s |
| 1.5 hour of devoted PE + 1 hour others | 35 s |
| 2 hours of devoted PE + 1 hour others | Up to 2-3 min |
Table note. “1.5 hour of devoted PE + 1 hour others” means that the person spends, for example, 1.5 hour on devoted PE (physical exercise) (e.g., 2 daily jogging sessions of 45 min each) and also gets 1 hour of walking here and there throughout the day.
Explanations for the Table about benefits of physical exercise
Many sick people, especially city dwellers, often have less than 20 min of
physical exercise per day. (These 20 minutes include walking within the house,
to the car, while shopping, etc.). Their body and brain oxygenation is, at best, according to this
table, about 18 seconds due to habitual chest breathing, mouth breathing and
overbreathing (breathing more than the medical norm at rest).
If a person with over 20 second CP (Control Pause or body oxygen test results) devotes 1 hour to rigorous physical activity with nose breathing only, they can finally get stabilized, over a period of some days, at the level of about 25 seconds of body O2. Usually such people naturally get about 30 min of light exercise throughout the day (e.g., walking here and there).
Having more than 2 hours of daily physical activity is generally sufficient to get or maintain any body oxygen levels.
Elderly people often require less physical exercise than suggested by the Table above. For example, a 60+ or 70+ years old person may require only 1 hour of devoted exercise and 1 hour of walking to get any body oxygenation, provided that there are few, if any, negative effects due to other lifestyle risk factors.
Teenagers and young people in their 20s and 30s sometimes
may require more physical activity to achieve main
benefits of physical exercise
and the corresponding body O2 numbers shown in the Table.
Note that it is assumed here that other factors, including breath-work, sleep hygiene, diet, nutritional deficiencies, thermoregulation, daily work, and posture, do not produce negative effects on morning oxygenation.
Note about recovery from chronic diseases. People with physiological conditions or pathological tissue changes (inflammation, tumors, deposits, lymphomas, granulomas, and so on) generally cannot get even 25 s oxygenation without additional physical exercise.
Mistaken ideas about physical activity benefits
Many Western Buteyko breathing practitioners teaching the Buteyko method do not sufficiently emphasize the importance and value of physical activity. They assume that a student with serious or physical health problems can just do more breath work and achieve a high oxygenation without physical exercise. These students can practice breath work for 2-3 hours per day and often achieve very high absolute maximum pauses (up to 1.5-2 minutes). However, their teachers often do not have them record their morning CPs (Control Pause or body oxygen test results) and focus on the morning CP. It can be called a "get large CPs and forget the mornings" approach.
As a result of the
damage produced, such students usually get stuck with about 15-23 s
for the morning CP and chest breathing during sleep and at other times when they are not aware
of their breathing. Furthermore, many health problems may get worse due
to very large CP fluctuations, e.g., from around 20 s in the morning and up
to 40-50 or more seconds after their breath work.
Physical diseases require physical means to remove abnormalities in body cells. We need shaking (vibrations of the body), sweating (to eliminate toxins and poisons) and increased metabolism to deal with cancer tumors, diabetes, asthma, high cholesterol, arthritis, other auto-immune disorders, inflammatory conditions, GI disorders, and many other problems.
An efficient breathing retraining program should focus and promote an ability to maintain your CP, especially throughout the night, rather than to achieve long or very long breath holds. And physical activity is the crucial factor in this process of defending what a student has earned.
Key factors for more benefits of physical activity
- Nasal breathing:
All physical activity should be done with nose breathing (inhalations and
exhalations). This leads to increased use of CO2 and NO (nitric oxide) for the
body cells, reduced heart rate for the same intensity of exercise, better oxygen
transport, increased aerobic metabolism, and decreased lactic acid production. Also, bear in mind that
limited success of Graded Exercise
Therapy was due to negative effects of mouth breathing.
- Duration of physical activity: The longer the exercise session, the
stronger its impact.
- Intensity or speed: Generally, at lower CPs (less than 25-30
s), the most effective exercise is one that is done with maximum intensity, but
with nasal breathing all the time. At higher CPs (over 30 s), breathing control
during and after
exercise becomes an important factor that determines its maximum usefulness.
- Perspiration: Sweating removes numerous toxic and waste products
assisting the GI tract, liver, kidneys and other body organs. Dr. Buteyko
suggested that it is necessary for good health to sweat every day.
- Shaking or mechanical vibrations of the whole body or whole body vibration: Each step, as
during running or jogging, stimulates the lymphatic system and promotes the removal of waste products which are
unavoidable during so called "physical diseases".
"Hence, the diseases can be cured by regular physical exercise. There is no need to spend 3 hours every day to retrain one's breathing. Instead, one should work hard 5 hours per day with perspiration. This will cure asthma, hypertension, angina pectoris, and other diseases." Dr. K.P. Buteyko, MD, PhD, "Dr Buteyko Lecture in the Moscow State University on 9 December 1969"
If someone has, for example, 1 or 2 hours per day to improve his or her body oxygen level (CP test), what is the optimum way to distribute this time? Would this distribution depend on the current CP and health state of the student? What is the maximum morning CP expected for a certain amount of physical activity and breath work during breathing retraining?
Physical activity or physical exercise, according to Dr. Buteyko
and his medical colleagues, is the most natural and, for
relatively healthy people, most efficient method to increase cell oxygen levels.
However, at lower body oxygen content, physical exercise can be difficult or, in
severe cases, even impossible. Therefore, the optimum health restoration
program should adjust physical activity to the current health state of the
student and his or her body oxygen level. Furthermore, it is
necessary to understand how physical exercise and body oxygen level (or our
unconscious breathing patterns) influence and interact with each other. First
consider the effects of body oxygenation on our desire to exercise.
Table. Effects of body Oxygen Levels on Physical Exercise
| Body oxygen level | Desire or abilities to exercise |
| 1-5 s CP | Any physical activity can be life-threatening since acute exacerbation can occur due to the severe degree of overbreathing and critically low body oxygen level. |
| 5-10 s CP | Any exercise, even slow walking on the flat surface, is hard due to severe dyspnea. It can cause exacerbation of health problems (asthma attacks, angina, seizures, and so forth). |
| 11-20 s CP | Most people experience and complain about chronic fatigue, but can walk with only nose breathing for hours on a flat surface. |
| 20-30 s CP | There are few or no complaints about fatigue. Physical activity (e.g., easy relaxed jogging) is well tolerated, but requires considerable psychological effort and self-discipline. |
| 30-40 s CP | Exercise is pleasant and relatively easy, but a systematic or daily exercise routine generally requires good self-discipline. |
| 40-60 s daily CP, less than 40 s morning CP | Exercise is easy and pleasant, nose breathing during exercise is natural and comfortable |
| Over 40 morning CP | Exercise is a joy and people are full of energy provided that they have enough food to eat. They crave exercise naturally. If they force themselves not to exercise, their CP drops. |
Physical Activity Benefits for Breathing Retraining
Physical activity can defeat chronic diseases provided that one
follows a crucial old rule which most people ignore. Do you know this rule?
Do you know why hundreds of sick people die during or soon after physical
exercise every year due to acute exacerbations? Do you know why intensive
exercise is usually useless for sick people and can be harmful? Why was exercise
more beneficial
some 70-100 years ago then?
While increasing body oxygen content and MCP (morning CP) by slowing down one's breathing pattern, a student has choices and can use 2 main techniques to increase body oxygen levels: physical activity and breathing exercises. What is the optimum relative contribution of these factors to health improvement? An effective (or ideal) breathing program for a typical student is always individual (due to the variety of factors that we can or cannot control). However, there are certain common ideas that are reflected in the following Table.
Table. Benefits of physical activity vs. breathing exercises for health improvement
| Body oxygen level | Optimum average contribution | |
| Breathing exercises | Physical activity | |
| 1-10 s CP | 100% | 0% |
| 11-20 s CP | 60% or less | 40% or more |
| 20-30 s CP | 40% or less | 60% or more |
| 30-60 s CP (less than 40 MCP) | 20% or less | 80% or more |
| Over 60 s CP or over 40 MCP | Unnecessary: breath control is easy* | 100% |
* At over 40 s morning CP, it is relatively easy to maintain constant breath control, while one is awake, and the CP does not drop during nights due to naturally short sleep (about 4 hours or less).
Which types of physical exercise provide more benefits?
According
to Dr. Buteyko (and he is absolutely right) running or jogging
is the best type of physical activity for human beings (except for those
people who have problems with their musculoskeletal
system, e.g. recently broken bones, severe arthritis, and so on). Other
activities, like power walking, cycling, weight lifting, various forms of
yoga, and swimming also have many benefits and are almost as good as
running. If for whatever reasons someone does not include running in his or
her daily routines and suffer from a "physical" disease, it is advisable for
this person to have daily perspiration (due to other exercises or sauna, if
well tolerated) and mechanical body shaking (e.g., with additional
trampoline jumping or use of whole body vibration machines).
Keep in mind that very slow, systematic and gradual start is a very important factor in success for any exercise program.
Web pages about cardiovascular endurance, physical exercise, running, body
building, and sports:
- Cardiovascular Endurance
and Body Oxygen Levels: How brain and body
oxygenation influence cardiovascular endurance, desire to exercise,
fitness-related lifestyle factors and physical health
- Physical Health: Impossible
without high body oxygen levels since low tissue
oxygenation promotes chronic fatigue, diseases and abnormal states of the mind
- Breathing techniques for
running: Which breathing techniques provide maximum body oxygenation at rest
and during running?
- Benefits of Physical Activity:
The main benefits of correct physical activity for health are due to more oxygen
in body cells. Learn how to exercise correctly to get maximum benefits from
exercise and sports
- Benefits of Running correctly include
increased cell and body oxygen levels provided that you run with nose breathing
only (in and out) mimicking some effects of high-altitude training
- Effects of
Exercise on the Respiratory System: They are short-term and long-term and
mainly depend on your breathing route: mouth vs. nose breathing
- How to Build More Body Muscle
with Less Diet Protein: Bodybuilding requires less protein in diet to build
muscles if the body cells are well oxygenated due to correct breathing 24/7
- Graded Exercise Therapy: How to
Make It Very Effective: Graded exercise therapy can be very beneficial, if it is
done with one old key rule: nose breathing only.
Short sport and fitness articles: Breathing at rest, cardiovascular endurance
and sport performance:
- Simple
Breathing Exercise For Higher VO2max
- Changing
VO2max by Breathing Differently at Rest
- Exercise is
Joy Only When Body is Oxygenated at Rest
- When exercise is 100% safe
for chronic diseases
- Why modern man gets
little, if any, benefits from exercise
- Which
exercise parameters increase body oxygenation
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?
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
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