How to Stop or Prevent Heart Attack, Stroke, Acute Asthma,

Seizures, and Other Life-Threatening Situations

using Buteyko Emergency Procedure

(4-A. Shallow Breathing or Shallow Breath or Reduced breathing exercise)

Instead of frequent and deep breathing, you need a slower and shallower breathing pattern. It is called "shallow breathing" or "shallow breath" or "reduced breathing". This is the main Buteyko breathing method exercise. Very heavy breathing and low body oxygenation are possible when: 1) you take large inhalations; 2) they forcefully exhale air out of the lungs, instead of simple relaxation of all breathing muscles to produce quiet natural exhale; 3) you are likely to breathe using your chest, not the diaphragm.

Learn more here, if you missed this important idea: 4 regular breathing patterns and corresponding body-oxygen levels.

Hence, one should take smaller inhalations using their tummy and then relax all breathing muscles for exhalations as shown here:

- 1. Relax all your muscles in any comfortable position with a straight spine, which is favorable for complete relaxation. Such relaxation normally produces quiet spontaneous exhalation.

- 2. At the end of this exhalation, pinch your nose with two fingers and hold your breath for about 1-2 seconds.

- 3. Since the feeling of air hunger at the end of this breath holding is not strong, take in (or inhale) less air than you did before (“breathe less”) but using the tummy mainly or only

- 4. For exhalation, you need just to relax, while keeping all breathing muscles, including chest-shoulders and diaphragm muscles, completely relaxed.

- 5. Again, take in (or inhale) small amount of air (“breathe less”).

- 6. And just relax all the body.

- 7. Continue to breathe in such a shallow relaxed manner, with constant air hunger for about 1 minute.

Repeat again and again this 1 minute cycle from steps 2 to 6: short breath hold (1-2 s) – smaller inhalation – relaxation of all muscles for exhalations. In other words, every minute you do short breath holds (1-2 s) and RB (reduced breathing) between them, as shown here:
Breath hold (1-2 s) - Reduced breathing (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -
- Breath hold (1-2 s) - RB (1 min) -…

About your medication

medication, continue the Emergency Procedure. Monitoring the severity of the symptoms. If it is still not possible to stop an attack (e.g., angina pectoris), again take 1/3 of your usual dose. Do the Emergency Procedure once more. Russian medical doctors and practitioners found that most patients could eliminate their symptoms in 1-5 minutes (Buteyko, 1977).

Optional: Additional practical recommendations in order to have better relaxation

When you are not sure about chest-shoulders-neck-jaws muscles, tense them maximally or almost maximally for 1-2 s and, then, relax. That can be done with the whole area of muscles or, if difficult, with separate muscular groups, one by one.

Using such tensing-relaxing, clearly and vividly visualize your body or body parts, first, during tensing, as a steel spring, which is hard and strong, and seconds later, during relaxation, as a large soft piece of dough, or jelly fish or CO2 molecule floating above the ocean. Other images, of course, can be used, e.g., during tensing, as an over-inflated water-filled balloon, resilient and firm, which suddenly loses pressure and becomes soft and shapeless and filled with air during relaxation.

Since muscular tension during the breathing exercises should be experienced only in the area of the diaphragm, one can imagine and visualize how all tension, stress and pressure descend or slide down from the head, neck, shoulders, and chest to the area around the diaphragm.

You can massage this area (chest-shoulders-neck-jaws muscles) with your hands or, if you have a relative or friend around, ask him/her to do that.

During the Emergency Procedure, the relaxation of the diaphragm and skeletal muscles is possible, only if the amount of air in the lungs is near the physiological volume (such a lung state is achieved, when people suddenly lose their consciousness or are properly relaxed). Having more air in the lungs is undesirable, due to the appearance of tightness in respiratory muscles. Keep in mind that Buteyko breathing method exercises allow maximum time spent in a state of relaxation for all muscles of the body. This is also true for "reduced breathing" ("shallow breathing" or "shallow breath").

Reference pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
- Breathing norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome: Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions (37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and slow breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in over 90% of normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia: How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test) : How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy: Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical studies)
- Body oxygen in sick : Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones: from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel worse and critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: pages about CO2 effect:
- 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: How alveolar CO2 influences oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation: Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth: Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.

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