Why Morning Buteyko CP Most Important Factor For Health?

This video will be about the morning control pause and its importance within the Buteyko Breathing Method. 

Why are students advised to measure the morning CP and what is the role of the morning CP? 

In the original protocol written by Dr. Buteyko, the students were given 2 ways to measure their progression of CP growth. They could either choose to track their morning CP or their CP at another part of the day. If students would choose to track their CP during the day, they were advised to always measure at the time of the day. 

This was quite surprising for me since as a Buteyko coach myself, I quickly found out that most students (90%) would always have their lowest CP measurement in the morning. This is due to the fact that most people breath heavier during their sleep. It is even known that the highest chance for hyperventilation attacks is while sleeping. In addition, most heart and epileptic attacks happen early in the morning when people are still sleeping. Such health problems mostly arise during early morning hours (between 4 and 7 AM). Learn more about morning CP here: https://www.normalbreathing.org/learn-why-morning-cp/

I was surprised that many studies, all in different health areas (such as asthma, COPD, Heart disease, stroke, diabetes) consistently show that this morning window is the most problematic window for their specific disease. 

Therefore, it is only logical that having a strong morning CP should be the goal for all Buteyko students. Measuring morning CP would be the best measurement to reflect the body oxygenation during the last hours of sleep. 

So why would Dr. Buteyko not come to this conclusion himself? Perhaps a simple reason could be that when students reach level 7, sleep would be so short (4 hours) that it would not affect CP negatively. As such, students from level 6 and up would not experience the negative effects of sleep and as such morning CP measurements would be as reliable as day CP measurements. Dr. Buteyko himself had a very high CP (between level 11 or 12 according to his Buteyko Table of Health Zones) and his students would vary between levels 1 and 10. More about correct sleeping: https://www.normalbreathing.org/learn-prevent-sleeping-on-back/

Most western Buteyko practitioners focus mainly on the lower levels of health (level 1 to 3) since reaching 20 or even 30 morning CP is already a huge achievement for most people today. What people consider relatively healthy today, Buteyko himself would consider poor health.

Another reason why morning CP would be a better parameter to measure the health of the person would be because many people have even 2 times higher CP during the day. Moreover, there are students who, after weeks of training, can increase their CP during the day to even 20 or 30 CP, while maintaining 5 CP in the morning. In such cases, a disease that would normally not be present at 30 CP, could still be maintained and even worsen due to low body oxygenation during sleep. 

To conclude, morning CP should be the key indicator to reflect the level of health. 

The YouTube URL of this video is:https://youtu.be/Qz4XrIxyj2c 

The video features Dr. Artour Rakhimov

The Essence Of the Buteyko Method

Dr. Artour has heard this question many times during over 15 years of teaching the Buteyko breathing retraining method. Many students and Buteyko teachers (practitioners or educators) asked him, "What is the key in the Buteyko method?" or "What is most important in the Buteyko breathing technique?".

The same question was discussed many times by teachers of the method for many decades. for example, in the 1990s, Alexander Stalmatsky and other teachers heard from Dr. Buteyko (when he trained them to become breathing practitioners) that the maximum pauses are the key to success in the VLGD (Buteyko) method.

In the 2000s, during Dr. Buteyko trip to New Zealand, to teach new Buteyko educators, they asked him, "What is the essence or core of the Buteyko method?" and heard him saying that breathing less all the time is the foundation of the Buteyko method.

Other students and practitioners trained by Dr. KP Buteyko heard him saying that constant breath control is the key to success in breathing retraining and the Buteyko technique.

We can see that, throughout the decades of the evolvement of the Buteyko method, various people heard various explanations related to this question about the essence of the Buteyko method.

From one of the Russian video documentary about the history of the Buteyko breathing method, we also know that Dr. Buteyko said that Buteyko practitioners should have more than 90% success rate concerning the success rate in the treatment of chronic health problems of their students with the Buteyko method. More about the history of the Buteyko Method https://www.normalbreathing.org/buteyko-history/

We can see that there are many approaches and answers to this, on the one hand, simple, but on another hand complex question.

For many years, Dr. Artour thought about this topic and realized that the way to approach the whole problem is not to look for verbal answers provided by Dr. Buteyko, but to look at what he did (not just said) in relation to his own health. It is known from the conference of Buteyko teachers in December 2000 in New Zealand that Dr. Buteyko showed how he did the CP test and had 2 minutes and 40 seconds for the result. Many are also aware that, for many years, Dr. Buteyko required 2 hours for his natural sleep. This was also the number that he mentioned in one of his published Russian interviews.

These personal parameters of Dr. Buteyko suggest that he was somewhere in the top 2 rows of the Buteyko Table of Health Zone (Health Levels 1-2).

Then the answer to this original question becomes easier. We should not think about what he said to this or this person at this or this particular time, but what he did. This reminded Dr. Artour about certain saying from the Bible concerning how to enter the Kingdom of God. People should become like children meaning that children, of course, listen what adult, parents, and teachers say to them, but children do things not according to this verbal expressions but according to what adults did due to mirror neurons that control the behavior of the child and mind states of children.

As verses from the Bible claim, “Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God as a little child will certainly not enter it” (Mark 10:13-16).

That is Dr. Artour's view and answer about the essence of the Buteyko method.

The URL of this video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=093GI... This video features Dr. Artour Rakhimov.

How Can We Measure CO2 levels?

In this video, I will explain how you can measure carbon dioxide (CO2) with the use of certain devices. As students progress with their level of health (according to the Buteyko table of health zones) their symptoms would decrease and the need for medication would become less and less. When level 7 is reached virtually all symptoms of disease would be gone. This is true 100% of the time, provided that students are able to reach such oxygen levels. So the method is, of course, very effective, but people may wonder what kind of methods can be used to measure one’s state of health. CO2a stands for alveolar carbon dioxide. It is the amount of CO2 that is measured in the lungs. It is extremely difficult to measure as it would be very hard to put a device in the lungs (only done with animals). So on humans, many professionals try to measure CO2a by trying to calculate the flow rate of the exhale. And then in addition to flow rate, they need to measure changes in CO2 of the exhaled air. You then get 2 kinds of graphs, which will provide you with the velocity rate by which you exhale and the CO2 concentration. To measure changes in CO2, one can hold a device under the nose (capnogram) and measure end-tidal CO2. End-tidal CO2 would show you how much CO2 is present in exhaled air. That would be at the end of exhalation. Of course for Buteyko, measuring CO2 was very important as he realized that carbon dioxide plays a crucial role in breathing retraining. CO2 is necessary to provide oxygen to the brain, heart and all other organs, it dilates blood vessels and it regulates the immune system. Probably 100 or dozens of chemical reactions in the body are based on CO2. When CO2 in the body becomes even slightly less, many chemical reactions in the body become disrupted or start to go in opposite directions, etc. Dr. Buteyko was against using a capnometer and measuring end-tidal CO2. This is because the capnograph shows the highest number of CO2 at the end of the exhalation. Find more about monitoring CO2 here: https://www.normalbreathing.org/etco2... For normal healthy people (according to current medical standards) would be around level 5 (40 CP). Such people breath 80-90% with their diaphragm and as a result, the carbon dioxide level in their exhalation would increase very slowly. The program in such cases would show a very nice plateau that only increases very slightly. So then the very last part of the capnograph would show end-tidal CO2. Only in such cases, would such end-tidal CO2 have a very close correlation with alveolar and arterial CO2. So it is only for a normal breathing pattern that this method works really well. However, when people have abnormal breathing patterns, they have high end-tidal volumes (not 500 or 600 milliliters, but more like 800, 900, or 1 liter of air per breath). So if the end-tidal volume is larger, the capnogram is going to show high numbers of end-tidal CO2, which is not in correlation with real alveolar and arterial numbers. So what did Dr. Buteyko use for his research? He simply measured the total amount of carbon dioxide of all exhaled air. He would collect all exhaled air in a bag and, with the use of a capnometer, and measured the amount of CO2 in the air. You can find more about the health effects, uses and benefits of CO2 here: https://www.normalbreathing.org/co2/ Again when measuring end-tidal CO2 in people with abnormal breathing patterns (chest breathing), the capnograph will show shark fins (as opposed to a nice plateau). Therefore, chest breathing alone will cause a 20% difference in measuring CO2. This does not mean however that everyone with a low CP breath with their chest. Especially in young children, the breathing is with the diaphragm even if they have level 1 of health according to the Buteyko Table of Health Zones. Now you may think that a deviation of 20% is not much when measuring CO2. But when a 20% mistake in CO2 measurement is made, it can lead to a misreading of a person’s health of up to 2 levels (according to the Buteyko Table of Health Zones). This could mean that a practitioner would conclude his patient to be at a health level of 5, while he or she is actually in level 3. Therefore, using a capnograph is not reliable to tool for measuring breathing retraining. Now it does not mean that the capnometer has no place at all. For higher CP students (with normal breathing patterns) the machine can be used to provide biofeedback. Also, when one does multiple readings with a capnometer on a patient during sleep, the accumulation of readings (with multiple readings) can be used to effectively measure breathing training progress. This is because, during sleep, the patient will not be able to manipulate breathing that can cause huge deviations in readings. The YouTube URL of this video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ51w... The video features Dr. Artour Rakhimov

Does Overbreathing Cause Respiratory Alkalosis or High Blood pH (Buteyko Method)?

Hyperventilation causes deviations in blood PH. Hyperventilation reduces carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide is needed to keep blood PH acid. When carbon dioxide levels in the blood are reduced, the blood becomes more alkaline. More about hyperventilation and blood ph

If we are talking about health zones, ordinary people would be situated around health zone 3 (20Cp). As such, normal people breath too much, which causes carbon dioxide to be reduced in the blood. This makes the blood more alkaline (called respiratory alkalosis).  

However, when we measure blood PH in people, we would not be able to see that the blood is actually alkaline. This is because our blood PH is tightly managed within a very narrow range from 7.35 to 7.45. So when the breath changes, the blood is still kept within this very narrow range. 

So why did Dr. Buteyko talk about alkaline blood PH as a result of overbreathing? 

Dr. Buteyko worked mainly with very sick patients. And when people are severely sick (hospitalized or even in emergency rooms with acute attacks etc.), they actually commonly would have respiratory alkalosis (no medical professional is going to argue with that). 

But when we talk about ordinary people who chronically hyperventilate (asthma or COPD patients even), this is actually not true. When we would ask a general practitioner who deals with normal (sick) people, they would tell you that blood PH is always in the normal range (even though these patients chronically hyperventilate). More about the causes of hyperventilation. 

So when people have these relatively mild forms of hyperventilation, they would have normal blood PH. The statement then that hyperventilation causes respiratory alkalosis, is not exactly correct. This only relates to severe hyperventilation.  

So when do people actually have respiratory alkalosis? The barrier would be around 10 CP and below. So when people go to an emergency room, they commonly would breathe around 25-30 Liters per minute. This correlates to around 5 CP. This is a huge difference as ordinary people breath around 12 Liters per minute and healthy people (according to Buteyko standards) breath only 6 Liters.

The URL of this video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh7yH... This video features Dr. Artour Rakhimov.

What is the Buteyko breathing Method?

The Buteyko Breathing Method has to do with chronic hyperventilation which is affecting 95% or more of our society. Most people, however, do not realize that there are 2 basic versions. More about the Buteyko method: https://www.normalbreathing.org/buteyko-method/ .

The original version (as thought by Dr. Buteyko himself) includes the Buteyko Table of Health Zones. He used it to define a person’s health and included many methods in order to heal his patients.

One can measure the amount of air we breathe in liters per minute and compare results between those that are healthy and those that are sick. The medical norm would be between 5-6 liters per minute (+-12 breaths per minute), which corresponds to around 40 seconds for the breath holding time test.

Buteyko himself, however, concluded that the health norm should be around 60CP. This would be 4 liters of ventilation (8 breaths per minute). He concluded that this would be normal health but if we look at society today, only 1% of the population would reach his standard.

The second version (most popular in the west) is simply only the Buteyko Breathing exercise that, of course, is also included in the original version. So when most people talk about the Buteyko Method, they usually refer to his breathing exercise only. It is common to see that practitioners and coaches only apply the second version and do not include complete lifestyle changes and know or talk about the Buteyko Table of Health zones.

As such, the second version will not allow one to reach Buteyko’s true norm of health. It is simply used to treat asthma and other respiratory diseases and reduce/eliminate medication.

Furthermore, many practitioners, myself included, combine the original method with other alternative healing methods in order to make the protocol more effective. Misha Sakharoff, for example, specializes in healing cancer by combining a variety of methods (including Buteyko).

As you can see, there is a big difference between the practitioner’s application of the method. The debate continues between practitioners about whether the method should be considered dynamic and changing over time or be considered static and only include the tools given by Dr. Buteyko himself.

You can find the overview of the Buteyko method here: Buteyko Method 

From my experience, I can conclude that, even when following the complete original version of the Buteyko method, certain conditions cannot be cured. Mainly in the field of nutrition, there has been much development. Certain (strict) dietary protocols have proven very successful in combination with the Buteyko Method. For example, eliminating plant foods can be necessary for treating auto-immune diseases. In future videos, I will discuss the benefits of the carnivore or PKD (Paleomedicina) diet in combination with breathing retraining.

Also, Buteyko himself had a negative attitude towards breathing devices. However, as time has progressed, many practitioners have found that certain devices proof very beneficial for breathing retraining (especially for the lower health zone students).

Furthermore, a static approach (as opposed to dynamic) of the Buteyko method, does not take into account lifestyle changes over long periods of time. One can assume that after 50 years or even more, people have different lifestyles and different factors need to be included in order to maintain health. Therefore, a dynamic application of the Buteyko Methods, from my perspective, seems to be the only way to go into the future. The same can be seen in the application of yoga for health and mind. The efficacy of the yoga protocols in the ancient transcripts (some more than 3000 years old) in today’s society is much lower compared to ancient times. Things change and we must adapt our protocols along the way. Even in the last 100 years, things have changed dramatically. Many seemingly insignificant changes, such as the introduction of soft chairs and couches, have a negative effect on our health. Other examples of relatively recent developments that have affected our health negatively are amalgam mercury fillings (in the tooth) or the fact that we started wearing rubber shoes and walk on artificial floors (which keep us electrically insulated from the earth).

Moreover, numeral studies have concluded that the development of agriculture (the introduction of rice, wheat, and grains in the diet ) is a huge cause for many of our current health problems. Later on, the use of table sugar coupled with the overall increase of carbohydrates in the diet, as well as the rise of processed foods and even later the increase of vegetable oils has damaged our health even more. It is apparent that as humankind evolves, we should also keep changing the way we treat health. Therefore, at normalbreathing we keep developing the Buteyko Method to ensure our patients and students progress with their level of health most effectively according to the Buteyko Table of Health Zones.

The URL of this video is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXDbxMzgUIY

This video features Dr. Artour Rakhimov.