Test your Breathing

• Are you mouth-breathing – either chronically or from time to time?
• Does your nose block, even when you don’t have a cold?
• Can you hear yourself breathe?
• Do you feel short of breath or chest tightness when exercising?
• Do you feel as if you are shallow-breathing at times?
• Do you have excessive mucus or post-nasal drip?
• Even when it’s nowhere near bedtime, do you sigh or yawn excessively?
• Do you have a hunger for air, or sometimes feel as if you can never get enough         air?
• Do you experience headaches or wake up with a headache?
• Do you feel stressed?
• Do you wake up with a dry mouth or need to keep water by your bedside?
• Do you snore?
• Do you have sleep issues?
• Do you experience fatigue or a lack of energy?
• Do you get tingling in your fingers?
• Do you get palpitations?
• Do you experience dizziness or feel spaced?

A Yes response to any of these questions may indicate disordered breathing.

What is Breathing Retraining?

Breathing retraining is an educational program which helps to retrain the breathing pattern to normal.

It includes:
• Breathing and body awareness
• Strategies to reduce and alleviate symptoms
• Guidelines on posture
• Daily breathing exercises
• Guidelines on sleep, exercise, and food

breathe describes the breathing retraining program step-by-step, week-by-week. It includes breathing assessment questionnaires, diary sheets and weekly checklists to monitor progress. Improvement in symptoms may occur within days, though it may take a bit longer for the improved breathing pattern to become automatic, hence the four-week program.

How does it work?

Over-breathing means that we breathe too rapidly, or too deeply (or a mixture of both) leading to shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, palpitations, and hunger for air – as well as increased stress levels and anxiety.

Over-breathing (or hyperventilation to use the medical term) disturbs the balance of gases in the body. Too much carbon dioxide is exhaled and as a result, oxygen release from the haemoglobin in our red blood cells decreases. (If you would like more information, this is called the Bohr Effect, which was discovered by Danish scientist Christian Bohr in 1903.)

It’s commonly believed that carbon dioxide is a waste gas and is not important. The fact is that carbon dioxide levels need to be maintained within a narrow range in the body, and are essential for several important body processes, including breathing and oxygenation.

Breathing retraining results from my practice for clients experiencing stress, anxiety and panic are shown in breathe. After the course, clients showed significant improvement in their carbon dioxide levels, respiration rates and heart rates.

How it Works

The Buteyko method is a scientifically-based technique, developed by Professor Konstantin Buteyko in the 1950s. It is governed by the standard physiological principles of respiration, the normalisation of breathing and the Bohr Effect.

When we over-breathe, we disturb the balance of gases, oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body. Over-breathing or hyperventilation to use the medical term, means that we increase the volume of air inhaled. It also means that we exhale excessive amounts of carbon dioxide and this may lead to symptoms.

Carbon dioxide is often referred to as a waste gas. This is inaccurate – a certain level of carbon dioxide is essential for several body processes.

The Bohr Effect is a scientific phenomenon which determines the effective release of oxygen from the haemoglobin in our red blood cells and is linked to our carbon dioxide levels.