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By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Buteyko breathing teacher and educator

Breathing education

Part 11. Life style factors that matter
(Why do we breathe too heavily?)
I. Can toxic chemicals and pollutants from air, water,

food and other sources lead to hyperventilation?

Many industrial chemicals are harmful for the body. For example, pesticides, herbicides, petroleum products, preservatives, colors, heavy metals, and many others can be accumulated in various organs and body parts. These chemicals stress the immune system and organs of elimination. Biochemical stress is also a state of emergency for the human body. This stress also results in hyperventilation.

 

Toxic chemicals, once in the human organism, can generate different waste products, interfere with hormonal balance, and influence the nervous, digestive, cardiovascular and other systems. These negative changes sooner or later cause over-breathing. The mere appearance of bacteria or large amounts of waste products from bacteria in the blood would be sufficient to cause heavy over-breathing (chapter 1).

 

Therefore, environmental, professional, dietary and any other exposure to heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals due to pollution are also causes of chronic hyperventilation. Many medical drugs intensify respiration.

 

“Antibiotics (penicillin, streptomycin etc.) intensify breathing. After 2-3 weeks of such treatment, the state [of health] unavoidably gets worse. What is the mechanism? Antibiotics fight microbes, suppressing the breathing of micro organisms. All of the living world has one common foundation: metabolism. Therefore, antibiotics suppress the breathing of microbe cells and our cells. This causes excitement of the breathing centre, its disruption, in the direction of intensification. Moreover, antibiotics create conditions for new allergies. Senseless, widespread use of antibiotics causes tremendous damage. Camfora, codein, cordiamin, adrenalin, theoephedrine, ephedrine – also intensify breathing. People use them senselessly, trying to cure themselves, and cause tremendous harm to themselves” (Buteyko, 1977).

 

Alcohol, soon after intoxication, suppresses the breathing centre and can increase the breath holding time about 2 times. Simialrly, marijuana and cocain can increase the BHT about 3-4 times. This change in breathing, according to considered physiogical laws, profoundly influences perception and feelings of the intoxicated person leading to increased confidence, logic, feeling of energy, coordination, sharper sensations in relations to smells, colours, etc. Later, the abnormal substances are to be removed by the immune system and the liver and kidneys causing heavy breathing and hangover. The breath holding time plunges below the initial values. Low oxygenation, poor blood perfusion generates many negative effects described above.

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