What is the Buteyko Breathing Method & How Can It Help You?
Let’s take a look at how you breathe,
Is it fast or slow, shallow or deep, does your belly expand and your ribs rise on the inhale? Do you breathe in and out through your nose or mouth?
If you mouth breathe, unfortunately you are breathing incorrectly. The ideal way to breathe is like an infant does, through your nose. A newborn’s belly rises up and down as they breathe, you can see their ribcage and belly expand outward with each breath in, and then deflate with their out-breath. We can think of breathing as an automatic function that keeps us alive. Inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Normal breathing is 8-12 breaths per minute, although most people breathe around 25 breaths per minute, therefore over-breathing.
Shallow breathing
What we refer to as shallow breathing (Into the upper chest cavity) is common; this can be due to a reaction to stress within our lives. If you continue to breathe this way, it can lead to anxiety, chronic fatigue, heart issues or headaches. Shallow breathing causes tension in the shoulders, neck and upper torso. It is essential to break the habit of breathing poorly.
Learning the Buteyko Breathing Method has many benefits to your health and wellbeing. Great for relieving stress, anxiety, getting a good nights sleep, waking to feel rejuvenated and energised to start your day.
Dr Konstantin Buteyko
Back in the 1950s Russian medical scientist, Dr Konstantin Buteyko found that chronic over-breathing lead to oxygen starvation in the body’s tissues. He found the technique of breathing lightly and through the nose oxygenated the body correctly. Breathing through the nose slow, light and deep allows for better oxygenation to the tissues and organs in your body. When you over breath, the body takes in too much oxygen, causing hyperventilation, this depletes carbon dioxide in your blood vessels, and they begin to spasm.
Regulates the correct amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide
Buteyko breathing allows for breathing that regulates the correct amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body. Nasal breathing, lightly, slowly and deep into the belly, giving a sense of relaxation and optimal breathing. Breathing this way activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing blood pressure, stress and has a strong effect on the immune system.
Breathing slowly through your nose
When breathing slowly through your nose, you are breathing into your diaphragm, your primary muscle used for breathing. The diaphragm is situated below your rib cage and moves upward by 1-2 cm on the inhale as your ribs expand out. For those that hold their belly in, to make it look flat, they are not using their diaphragm to breathe. When you breathe down into your diaphragm, your body releases stress, sending a message to your nervous system that you are relaxed.
Better sleep and clearer thinking
Merely learning how to use the Buteyko Breathing Method can lead to changes in and help with weight loss, fitness, better sleep and clearer thinking. If you suffer from reflux, asthma, sinusitis, sleep apnea or snoring, fatigue and poor concentration, then you should learn how to breathe correctly. Slower and effective breathing can change both your emotional and mental state, and life can become simple and easy.
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