Daily Log for Breathing Exercises and How to Fill It

Module 10. Buteyko breathing exercises

Part 4. Your daily log for breathing exercises and how to fill it

Main breathing retraining daily log (or your personal breath-work diary) for short Buteyko breathing sessions and for DIY breathing device sessions - 1 page (Rich Text Format file or PDF file for printing).

Practice of successful students show that it is necessary to keep records of your progress. For example, in order to solve the problem of morning hyperventilation (and this is the problem for over 80% students), the daily log and knowledge about the extent of this problem in your particular case is vital. Whatever you want to check (your real requirements in essential fatty acids, Ca, and Mg; your sensitivity to carpets, the effects of physical exercise on your CP growth), the daily log, if correctly filled, will reflect the effects of all these parameters.

Here are several lines from one daily log (see below). Each line represent one breathing session that is about 15 min long. The very first column is the date. So, write the date. Then we have the approximate time of the day when you do the breathing session. The next column is your initial pulse. You can use any device to define your current heart rate or do it yourself. The pulse is measured at the wrist area using 2 or 3 fingers of the other hand. Or you may measure your pulse on your neck or chest. There is no need to measure the heart rate during one minute, but 10, 15 or 20 s is not enough since changes in pulse are small. We do it during 30 s interval. Then multiply the number of heart beats by 2 and you get your pulse in one minute.

As you see from the log, the reduced breathing is the next step and it starts immediately after the CP measurement. This is the main part of the session and for this daily log, all sessions are 12 min long. After the reduced breathing, you measure your final heart rate and, after 2-3 min of rest, measure your final CP. (This is indicated in the note at the bottom of the table.) We cannot measure the final CP immediately after the RB since you still have air hunger. But in 2-3 min this air hunger will be lost and we can find parameters of your new breathing pattern and new level of body oxygenation. This is the end of the breathing session.

The daily log also includes the amount of your physical activity (in minutes) and the column about your symptoms, medication and auxiliary activities, many of which will be described later.

The next breathing session will again result in one row of numbers, as shown here. For example, here we can see that the person had 3 breathing sessions on 7 May:

Date	Morn CP	Time (hour)	Initial pulse	Initial CP	Breath cycle or RB session time	Final pulse	Final CP	Physic. activity	Symptoms, medication and auxiliary activities
7.05	-	1 pm	76	16	- 12 min -	72	22	40 min	8 am - ventolin 2 puffs
		5 pm	76	17	- 12 min -	74	20		tight chest
		11 pm	74	16	- 12 min -	70	24
8.05	12	9 am	78	18	- 12 min -	76	22	45 min	Taped mouth
					- 12 min -				overnight
					- 12 min -

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