Health Check

If you are conscious about your health you are probably well aware of a number of parameters every health care provider tells you to watch. These parameters include:

There is one important parameter that is missing. In fact, it is so important, that if you stay within its healthy range, all of the parameters listed above would likely stay within their healthy ranges.

This very important parameter is your minute breathing volume at rest. Numerous studies show that minute ventilation in subjects with many modern chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease and others, is three to five times greater than in healthy subjects. Over time, greater breathing volumes cause drastic changes in our bodies, such as PH balance disturbances, spasms in smooth muscles and blood vessels, and oxygen starvation in tissue. That’s why we’d like to place this health parameter on top of the above list to emphasize its importance

You don’t need to go to the doctor test your Minute ventilation. Healthy Minute ventilation corresponds with a certain concentration of Carbon Dioxide in your alveolar air. Professor Buteyko discovered that it is measured by how long a person can comfortably suspend their breathing. The parameter is called a Control Pause, or CP, for short.

How to measure your Control Pause (CP)

For correct results, measure your CP on empty stomach, preferably first thing in the morning. You should be at rest for about 10 minutes prior to taking the measurement.

1. sit straight, but comfortable, and relax
2. inhale as you normally would, for 2 seconds
3. exhale as you normally would, for 3 seconds (do not empty your lungs completely), and hold your breath
4. start time measurement
5. release breath hold at the first urge to inhale
6. your breath after letting go should not be larger than the initial breath, which ensures your breath hold was comfortable (until the first urge to inhale occurred). Measure the amount of seconds passed.
7. find your measurement in the table below

Why is this parameter so important?

Chronic Hyperventilation (prolonged, larger than the norm, minute ventilation) can produce a number of symptoms and eventually result in a chronic health condition.

• Respiratory system
  in the form of wheezing, breathlessness, coughing, chest tightness, frequent yawning, sneezing, runny nose, congested nose, postnasal drip and snoring.
• Nervous system
  in the form of a light-headed feeling, poor concentration, numbness, sweating, dizziness, vertigo, tingling of hands and feet, faintness, trembling and headache.
• Heart
  typically a racing heartbeat, pain in the chest region, and a skipping or irregular heartbeat.
• Brain
  including some degrees of anxiety, tension, depression, apprehension and stress.
• Digestive system
  excessive gas, belching, IBS, acid reflux, constipation

How can we achieve a healthy breathing pattern?

Buteyko Breathing Exercises Program, such as AsthmaCare, is aimed at breathing retraining, which ensures not only a relief from your current health condition, but also offers long-term benefits for your health in general. A breathing retraining program is a safe, low-cost therapy that does not require the use of any drugs, supplements or devices.

A person whose breathing pattern stays within healthy levels is typically:

• free from chronic diseases
• has a strong immune system able to resist viral, bacterial and fungal infections
• recovers more quickly from physical or emotional stress or trauma
• performs better at physical activity with less effort
• maintains healthy weight
• has much higher energy levels
• maintains mental clarity and a healthy emotional state

If you are tired of being tired, sick of being sick, and your drug list keeps growing, ask yourself if it is time to look at your health differently. So check your most important health number, your Control Pause, and give us a call today. It might be the last phone call you ever make regarding your health!