Get back to healthy breathing through your nose with the Buteyko breathing method

Research has shown that breathing through your mouth poses many serious risks to your health including asthma, allergies, sleep apnea, and even heart disease. And mouth breathing during exercise or other forms of exertion can increase your risk. Unfortunately, mouth breathing is a bad habit that is easy to pick up, but difficult to break. However, the Buteyko breathing method can not only help you shift back to nasal breathing, but also give you a better quality of life.

The many benefits of Nose Breathing

Although breathing through your mouth brings in more air than breathing through your nose, mouth breathing is just not healthy. Nose breathing provides:

• Foreign agent removal through filter-like hairs in the nasal passages
• Humidifying, which destroys potentially harmful pathogens
• Dilation of bronchioles and blood vessels for better absorption and transport of oxygen
• Even transfer of carbon dioxide for oxygen
• Supported acid-alkaline balance
• Maintained lung elasticity and efficiency

These are all the benefits you instantly forfeit whenever you breathe through mouth. So, no matter how breathless you may become with exertion, you should always resort to nose breathing. Now, that may be easier said than done; yet, the ever-growing popular Buteyko breathing method can get you there!

The Buteyko Breathing Method

Developed in the 1950s by a Russian physician named, Dr. Buteyko, the Buteyko Breathing Method helps mouth breathers of all forms return to nasal breathing—even during exercise. You can start by taking the Buteyko Self-Test:

1. Sitting straight in a chair with feet flat on the floor, breathe naturally
2. Silently inhale and exhale through your nose and pinch your nose after exhaling
3. Hold your breath, and using a stopwatch or clock, count the number of seconds it takes before you feel the urge to breathe
4. When the urge arrives, take note of the amount of time it took to feel the urge
5. Upon resuming breathing, if you feel like you have to take in a deep breath through your mouth, then you held your breath too long

The control pause, or amount of time you were able to hold your breath, indicates how tolerant your body is to carbon dioxide. While a control pause of 40 to 60 seconds is ideal for healthy breathing and excellent physical endurance, most people fall into the range of 20 to 40 seconds. If your control pause is below 20 seconds, you may be suffering from a breathing impairment, poor exercise tolerance, and even chronic health problems.

Practice Buteyko Breathing—Daily!

You can practice Buteyko breathing every day to improve your nasal breathing and health. And every 5-second increase in your control pause will expand both your mental and physical endurance. Here’s how:

• Repeat steps 1 and 2 of the Buteyko Self-Test
• Nod your head or rock your body as you hold your breath
• When you feel the urge to breathe, release your nose, and gently breathe through it while keeping your mouth closed
• Take a 30 to 60-second break, then repeat

Completing multiple rounds of this exercise will lengthen your control pause, develop your nasal breathing, and even relieve nasal congestion. Also, remember to keep your mouth closed while breathing, and control your breath by breathing lighter through your nose. This is especially important during stressful situations. And for more great tips, just ‘Ask a Naturopath’ at Mr Vitamins.