Buteyko Method: Info, Research, Facts, Trials Review, ...

Dr. Konstantin Buteyko, MD, PhD The Buteyko Breathing Technique (also known as the Buteyko method or Buteyko breathing method) is a system of activities that include breathing exercises and lifestyle changes. The goal of the technique is to normalize one's automatic or unconscious breathing pattern (learn how to breathe in accordance with medical norms 24/7).

This breathing technique was created by Doctor Konstantin Buteyko. He suggested that chronic diseases are due to heavy breathing (or breathing more than the medical norms). Overbreathing reduces oxygen levels in the human body. Was Dr. Buteyko right?

Minute ventilation rates (chronic diseases)

Condition	Minute ventilation	Number of people	All references or click below for abstracts
Normal breathing	6 L/min	-	Medical textbooks
Healthy Subjects	6-7 L/min	>400	Results of 14 studies
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	22	Dimopoulou et al, 2001
Heart disease	16 (±2) L/min	11	Johnson et al, 2000
Heart disease	12 (±3) L/min	132	Fanfulla et al, 1998
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	55	Clark et al, 1997
Heart disease	13 (±4) L/min	15	Banning et al, 1995
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	88	Clark et al, 1995
Heart disease	14 (±2) L/min	30	Buller et al, 1990
Heart disease	16 (±6) L/min	20	Elborn et al, 1990
Pulm hypertension	12 (±2) L/min	11	D'Alonzo et al, 1987
Cancer	12 (±2) L/min	40	Travers et al, 2008
Diabetes	12-17 L/min	26	Bottini et al, 2003
Diabetes	15 (±2) L/min	45	Tantucci et al, 2001
Diabetes	12 (±2) L/min	8	Mancini et al, 1999
Diabetes	10-20 L/min	28	Tantucci et al, 1997
Diabetes	13 (±2) L/min	20	Tantucci et al, 1996
Asthma	13 (±2) L/min	16	Chalupa et al, 2004
Asthma	15 L/min	8	Johnson et al, 1995
Asthma	14 (±6) L/min	39	Bowler et al, 1998
Asthma	13 (±4) L/min	17	Kassabian et al, 1982
Asthma	12 L/min	101	McFadden & Lyons, 1968
COPD	14 (±2) L/min	12	Palange et al, 2001
COPD	12 (±2) L/min	10	Sinderby et al, 2001
COPD	14 L/min	3	Stulbarg et al, 2001
Sleep apnea	15 (±3) L/min	20	Radwan et al, 2001
Liver cirrhosis	11-18 L/min	24	Epstein et al, 1998
Hyperthyroidism	15 (±1) L/min	42	Kahaly, 1998
Cystic fibrosis	15 L/min	15	Fauroux et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis	10 L/min	11	Browning et al, 1990
Cystic fibrosis*	10 L/min	10	Ward et al, 1999
CF and diabetes*	10 L/min	7	Ward et al, 1999
Cystic fibrosis	16 L/min	7	Dodd et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis	18 L/min	9	McKone et al, 2005
Cystic fibrosis*	13 (±2) L/min	10	Bell et al, 1996
Cystic fibrosis	11-14 L/min	6	Tepper et al, 1983
Epilepsy	13 L/min	12	Esquivel et al, 1991
CHV	13 (±2) L/min	134	Han et al, 1997
Panic disorder	12 (±5) L/min	12	Pain et al, 1991
Bipolar disorder	11 (±2) L/min	16	MacKinnon et al, 2007
Dystrophia myotonica	16 (±4) L/min	12	Clague et al, 1994

Dr. Konstantin Buteyko made 2 essential physiological discoveries that are studied in detail on the Homepage of this website:
Medical people smiling 1). Sick people suffer from alveolar hypocapnia (lack of CO2) caused by chronic hyperventilation;
2) If they normalize their breathing, their symptoms and diseases are going to disappear.

Buteyko Method: Approved by Russian Ministry of Health

Dr. Buteyko trained about 200 medical professionals to apply the Buteyko method. In 1985, the Ministry of Health approved the Buteyko breathing technique for the treatment of bronchial asthma. According to official statistic of the Buteyko Clinic in Moscow, the technique has been applied by medical doctors or MDs on more than 100,000 asthmatics, over 30,000 people with cardiovascular problems and thousands of patients with other conditions (bronchitis, diabetes, cancer, HIV, liver cirrhosis, etc.).

Western Clinical Trials of the Buteyko Method

The Buteyko breathing technique has had several relatively successful clinical trials on asthma (England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, USSR). Practice shows that for most people, the normalization of breathing means becoming disease-free. Doctors have yet to discover just how many health problems can be solved with breathing retraining and can be treated with the Buteyko breathing technique.

The main problem with all Western clinical trials was that the subjects did not achieve even official medical norms for breathing . In these trials asthmatic reduced their ventilation from about 12-18 L/min down to about 9 L/min. However the medical norms are more rigorous: 6 L/min for minute ventilation, 10-12 breaths per minute, 40 mm Hg arterial CO2, 6 L/min for minute ventilation and so forth, while Dr. Buteyko's norms for breathing at rest correspond to even smaller and slower breathing (8 breaths/min, 46 mm Hg for arterial CO2, and 4 L/min for ventilation). Therefore, instead of measuring the final breathing parameters and heir changes, all western clinical trials focused on impact of breathing exercises (for about 1 hour per day) and lifestyle changes on their symptoms and medication. More information about this important topic that relates to quality of teaching of the Buteyko method in the Western world can be found here: Buteyko Clinical Trials.

About Konstantin Buteyko and history of the Buteyko method

Dr. Konstantin Buteyko with a child Doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko, MD, PhD (1923-2003) was a leading Soviet physiologist, medical doctor, and clinical physician who devoted 50 years of his life to the study of respiration. When he was an Honors medical student at the First Moscow Medical Institute in the early 1950s, he discovered that sick and severely sick patients usually had heavy breathing (fast and deep) and that their breathing became even heavier with approaching death. (You can visit hospital wards to observe this simple fact or pay attention to the breathing of your friends and relatives.)

During the 1960’s, Dr. Konstantin Buteyko was the head of a project funded by the Ministry of Aviation and Space Research as part of the program for launching the first manned spaceships. For this purpose, Dr. Buteyko was given a pulmonary laboratory in Novosibirsk Academgorodok (City of Academicians). However, since he was a doctor and also interested in diseases, he conducted many other studies related to breathing in the sick.

Dr. Buteyko discovered that chronic diseases are accompanied by abnormal changes in breathing, usually manifested as chronic hyperventilation (overbreathing). He also found that hyperventilation leads to cell hypoxia, while restoration of normal breathing parameters eliminates cell hypoxia, symptoms of diseases, and the need for medical drugs - leading to improved quality of life. Normal breathing, apart from other parameters, means breathing 4-6 liters of air per minute at rest, with a breathing frequency of 8-12 times per minute. In order to achieve normal breathing, he developed and, together with other Russian physicians, refined the Buteyko breathing technique. Changes in breathing and body oxygen levels also produce profound impact on lifestyle and quality of life factors, as the table below indicates.

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

Soviet-Russian Gulag KGB and Dr. Buteyko

Dr. Buteyko was a medical doctor. He treated his patients regardless of color of their skin, nationality, political beliefs, religious affiliations, gender and many other superficial factors. Such simple approach to life is generally disliked by many security intelligence organizations and their ultra intelligent representatives.

From the 1960's and until his tragic death in 2004, Dr. Konstantin Buteyko was severely persecuted by some mysterious "Siberian medical mafia", which was documented in many Russian sources. The most detailed account of Dr. Buteyko's life and these persecutions can be found in the book Doctor Buteyko's Discovery Trilogy, by Sergey Altoukhov, who spent many years learning, working and traveling with Dr. K. Buteyko. Those who were close to Dr. Buteyko knew and know that persecutions took place in Siberia during the previous century. Siberia was the famous place of numerous Gulag labor camps and Gulag's remnants were likely behind at least 3 murder attempts to kill Dr. Buteyko in Siberia. If you interested in mysteries related to deaths of leading Soviet healers (Dr. Buteyko, Vladimir Frolov and Alexandra Nikolaevna Strelnikova), visit the page: Buteyko, Frolov, Strelnikova died.

When working for the first outer space missions (Soviet Cosmos, 1960's), Dr. Konstantin Buteyko got an amazing opportunity to create a diagnostic complex (a collection of numerous medical devices) that could measure over 35 physiological parameters of the human organism in real time. (Read more: History of the Buteyko technique...)	Depending on a variety of factors, breathing students can achieve different final levels. Some students are satisfied with their ability to use breathing exercises and the most basic lifestyle changes in order to reduce their medications and the severity of their symptoms, others ... (Read more: Levels of learning Buteyko. )
There were many clinical trials of the Buteyko breathing technique both in the USSR and on the West, including 6 Western randomized controlled trials on asthma and Soviet trials on HIV-AIDS, radiation disease, heart disease (cardiovascular disease), liver cirrhosis, hepatitis B, cancer... (Read more: Results of Buteyko clinical trials...)	Tens of Western medical doctors and other health professionals expressed their amazement in relation to the success of the Buteyko breathing technique (Read more: MDs Testimonials about the Buteyko method).
Once they normalize their breathing patterns, students with various health conditions experience reduction in symptoms. (Read more: Clinical effects of Buteyko technique on health problems.)	There are many ways to do breathing retraining and learning the Buteyko breathing technique: a course, books, video, etc. (Read more: Ways to learn Buteyko)

Additional information is available on the web page Questions and Answers about the Buteyko method and Resources that provide:
- Interviews with Dr Konstantin Buteyko (1982, 1997, 1998) and Dr. Andrey Novozshilov (2003)
- Questions and answers from the book "Normal breathing: the key to vital health"
- Scientific publications about the Buteyko breathing method published in Russia,
- Popular articles by Artour Rakhimov.

You can also learn about main differences between traditional Russian and prevalent Western courses related to Buteyko practitioner training.

You can also learn the major modules of the Buteyko method and its crucial lifestyle factors in section Learn.

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
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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