Asthma-Free Naturally: Everything you need to know about taking control of your asthma. Patrick McKeown
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pause
A low control pause means the body’s respiratory centre has become fixed at a low level of carbon dioxide and therefore will send instructions to breathe a large volume of air in order to maintain this level. By commencing breathing exercises, an attempt is made to break this pattern by deliberately reducing the volume of air inhaled.
Regular practice of exercises and increased observation of breathing will help the respiratory centre to become fixed at a higher level of carbon dioxide. Just as it took time for the respiratory centre to become accustomed to a low level of carbon dioxide, it will also take time for it to become accustomed to a new higher, and healthier, level.
The increase in CP is dependent on a variety of factors: the severity of the asthma, age, how much the breathing exercises have been practised and how much attention has been given to the breathing. The more attention to, and observation of, breathing the better.
The control pause is an accurate measure of the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli. It therefore gives a very good indication of the state of a person’s asthma and in fact, of health generally. If the control pause is increasing then the asthma is improving. If the control pause is decreasing the individual’s asthma is getting worse.
A decreasing control pause is advance warning of an imminent attack. If the trend is for the control pause to decrease over a number of days, then it is important to take control of the condition by reducing the breathing to raise carbon dioxide levels. If it is not proving possible to increase the CP by breathing exercises, then it may be necessary to increase the level of preventative medication that has been prescribed.
A change in CP will often be noticed simply from observing reactions to various daily activities. It is possible to determine from the CP whether something is or is not good for asthma.
For example, if the CP has decreased following exercise, that person has been deep breathing during the exercise, so it would be important to change the way exercise is carried out. If the CP decreased following a large steak then eating large quantities of meat may not suit that individual or it may be that too much was eaten at one sitting. If the CP consistently drops at work then stress may be a factor or a reversal to mouth breathing may have occurred while concentrating on work. The CP gives excellent feedback and enables everyone to turn detective and determine whether something is a help or a hindrance to their asthma.
To determine whether breathing exercises are being practised correctly, it is necessary to measure the CP at the start of each exercise and several times during it to ensure that overbreathing is not occurring. The aim of breathing exercises is to reduce breathing volume, which will reset the carbon dioxide threshold and therefore the CP. The breathing exercises are being performed correctly when the CP increases a little between each set of exercises. Breathing exercises are being performed incorrectly when the CP is decreasing between each set. The pages towards the back of this book contain detailed exercise programs.
If it is proving impossible to influence the CP, then the exercises are not being done correctly and it would probably be better to stop doing the exercises and learn how to do them properly from an experienced practitioner.
From week to week, there should be a noticeable improvement in the control pause. The body will become conditioned to a higher level of carbon dioxide when breathing exercises are practised correctly. This will be reflected in a higher control pause. As far as Buteyko breathing is concerned, the control pause is the most important measurement of an individual’s asthma.
Measuring the CP in the morning before breakfast gives the most important measurement of the state of a person’s asthma. In the depths of sleep, breathing is a subconscious activity that cannot be interfered with. For this reason, the morning CP will give a true measurement of the level of carbon dioxide.
During the day, the CP will change depending on factors like eating, stress and talking, and on how the breathing changes. If the control pause is thirty seconds during the day and only ten seconds in the morning then the true control pause is ten seconds.
Peak flow meter
The peak flow meter, as used in conventional management, involves taking deep inhalations followed by large exhalations to measure the forced expiration of air in one second. This is an act of hyperventilation, and it can cause the airways to go into spasm, leading to inconsistent and inaccurate readings of the severity of asthma. In addition, blowing into a peak flow meter a number of times consecutively may be enough to start an attack. It is possible to continue to use your flow meter alongside the CP if desired. After taking a peak flow reading, the breath should be held for three to five seconds and the breathing reduced for three minutes to reverse the act of hyperventilation.
Scientists at Brunel University have recently devised a new product which allows people with asthma test their condition while they breathe normally. This device is based on capnography and measures the rate of change of carbon dioxide in exhaled air against time with normal breathing. Measurements are reliable and simple to take allowing asthmatic patients to accurately monitor their condition. It is worth noting that this device recognises the importance of correct carbon dioxide levels. Overtime, it may help change the current understanding regarding the significance of carbon dioxide.
How severe is your asthma?
When most people with asthma commence Buteyko Clinic Method a control pause of between ten and twenty seconds will be experienced in between attacks. This means that they are habitually breathing enough air for five or six people.
If your morning control pause is less than ten seconds then you have a breathing volume greater than six times your body’s requirements; you have a serious hyperventilation problem and your asthma is rated as severe.
If your morning control pause is 12 to 15 seconds then you are breathing five times the body’s requirements, indicating you have chronic and nocturnal asthma.
If your morning control pause is 15 to 20 seconds you are breathing four times the body’s requirements, indicating moderate asthma, nocturnal and exercise-induced asthma.
If your morning control pause is 20 to 30 seconds you are breathing three times the body’s requirements, indicating that the main asthma symptoms have disappeared, although some nocturnal asthma persists.
If your morning control pause is 30 to 40 seconds you are breathing one-and-a-half times to twice the body’s requirements, indicating that you may have asthma symptoms after exposure to a severe trigger.
If your morning control pause is 40 to 60 seconds, then your breathing is correct. As a direct result, your underlying asthma is being treated and you will very rarely have symptoms.
If your morning control pause is sixty seconds you have no health problems or diseases of civilisation. For over forty years Professor Buteyko and his associates were unable to find any person with a control pause of sixty seconds who had any of the diseases of modern civilisation. Diseases of civilisation are those which have become more widespread as countries become more industrialised, including angina, asthma, allergies, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, emphysema, hypertension, sleep apnoea and many more.
‘“Begin at the beginning,” the king said gravely, “and go till you come to the end; then stop.”’
– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The overall aims of breathing exercises are to increase the level of carbon dioxide in the alveoli, and to train the body to become accustomed to it. As indicated in previous chapters, our lungs require a concentration of between five per cent and six-and-a-half per cent carbon dioxide, equating to a control pause (CP), taken while at rest, of between forty and sixty seconds. Most of those with an asthma problem will have a CP of between 10 and 20 seconds, and