06 6 Breathing Myths PDF

6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (... http://www.normalbreathing.com/index-myths.
php
CO2
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Homepage Homepage: Norms, rates, CP and body oxygenation
Why nasal
6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Why diaphragmatic
Why slow
Myth #1. My breathing is OK and I know how to breathe.
Why imperceptible
Breathing norms
Less than 10% of people have normal breathing parameters and body oxygen stores these days. This
6 breathing myths
website has a list of medical and physiological respiratory studies done during last 80 years (click here for
MV of heart patients
the Table 3 with references and numbers). It is a fact that the medical norm established about a century ago
MV of asthmatics
is not a norm anymore. Modern people breathe about 2 times more air than we used to breathe 100 years
MV of diabetics
ago. Hyperventilation results in tissue hypoxia and many other biochemical abnormalities (read Myth #3
MV in sick
below). Your breathing is normal, if and only if you have normal body oxygenation. How to check it?
MV in healthy
You should be able to easily hold your breath for at least 40 s after usual exhalation and with no stress at
MV in ordinary
the end of the test. This test is described in detail later.
O2 importance
HV and hypoxia
Control Pause test
Myth #2. More breathing (deeper and bigger) means better body oxygenation.
CP in healthy
CP in sick There is zero scientific evidence about this deep breathing myth, but hundreds of published studies have
Buteyko health zones clearly shown that hyperventilation (or breathing more than the tiny medical norm) reduces oxygen supply
Morning HV to the brain, heart, liver, kidneys, and all other vital organs. Hence, it is only on screens of TVs and in real
life, uneducated people say, “Take a deep breath, get more oxygen”, or “Breathe deeper for better
Search this site oxygenation”, etc.
Promote this site
Contact me Myth #3. Breathing is regulated by want for oxygen.
If you open any medical or physiological textbook with the description of control of respiration, you will
find out that in normal conditions breathing is regulated by the CO2 concentration in the arterial blood and
the brain. Whatever we do (sit, walk, eat, run, sleep, etc.), CO2 concentration is kept within a narrow
range (0.1% accuracy) by the breathing centre located in the medulla oblongata of the brain.
Myth #4. CO2 is a poisonous or toxic gas and a waste product to get rid off.
When a healthy person tries to hyperventilate or is forced to breathe deeply and fast, he experiences
“hypocapnia” (CO2 deficiency) in the blood and other cells. The immediate effects are: constriction of
blood vessels (CO2 is a powerful vasodilator) and reduced blood supply and oxygen supply to the brain,
heart and all other vital organs. This is the reason why it is so easy to faint or pass out after 2-3 minutes of
forceful hyperventilation. Horses and dogs died in 15-20 minutes, when hyperventilation was forced by a
suction and exhaust pump. Another CO2 effect is the suppressed Bohr law or diminished release of oxygen
by the blood in the tissues due to the same hypocapnia. Apart from these phenomena, there are tens of
other vital functions of CO2 in the human body, but just reduced tissue oxygenation is sufficient to
promote cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other chronic conditions in case of overbreathing.
Myth #5. When a person is healthy, they feel how they breathe.
If people with normal breathing are asked what they feel about their breathing, they will testify that they
feel nothing at all (as if they do not breathe). “The perfect man breathes as if he is not breathing” Lao-Tzu,
circa 4th century BC. Indeed, if you have any healthy people around you and observe their breathing for
20-30 seconds, you will see and hear nothing. The medical norm for breathing is miniscule.
Myth #6. Sick people notice when their breathing gets abnormal.
100% prevalence of hyperventilation at rest (in between of more acute stages) is confirmed by over 20
published western studies on heart disease, cancer, asthma, COPD, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, panic
attacks, chronic fatigue, and many other conditions. (If you like tables and numbers with all medical
references and abstracts, click here to view Table 1) All these patients breathe about 2-3 times more than
the norm, and usually do not complain or even notice that they breathing is heavy or too deep. Why?
Because air is weightless and the main breathing muscles (diaphragm and chest) are very powerful: we can
pump 25 times more air during maximum exercise (or about 150 litres of air in minute), than we require
for normal breathing at rest (only about 6 l/min). People may notice that their breathing is heavy during
heart attacks, stroke, asthma attacks, or morning hyperventilation (between 4 and 7 am), when chronically
1 of 2 01/11/2010 04:31 PM
6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (... http://www.normalbreathing.com/index-myths.php
sick people are most likely to die from acute episodes triggered by hyperventilation.
Copyright (C) 2003-2009 Artour Rakhimov (If you copy the content of these pages for
educational purposes, please, indicate the site address and author's name).
2 of 2 01/11/2010 04:31 PM

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