Sleep Apnea: Buteyko Breathing Perspective

Know How To Stop Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Numerous people suffer from snoring and sleep apnea. When I think about them, I feel compassionate because those issues used to be my main health concern.

Twelve years ago, I was breathing through my mouth and snoring loudly at night, my breathing would stop, and I would wake up gasping for air – I was terrified, thinking that I would die from suffocation. Fortunately, all of this is in the past. By practicing the Buteyko Method, I was able to overcome sleep apnea.

Many people believe that excessive weight or abnormal throat structures cause sleep apnea, but Dr. Buteyko’s opinion was different. He discovered that sleep apnea was a reaction to over-breathing, a compensatory mechanism helping us to maintain homeostasis. When we breathe excessively, especially at night, the level of carbon dioxide in the lungs decreases, which creates a dangerous situation; if the CO2 level becomes zero, a person will die. To prevent this unfortunate event, the human body will do anything it can to increase CO2.

What can it do? The easiest way to achieve this is by halting breathing. According to Dr. Buteyko, during the periods when breathing stops, the CO2 level in the lungs starts increasing. When the situation ceases to be life-threatening, respiration resumes. From the perspective of the Buteyko Method, the involuntary breath holds are our survival mechanism; they keep us alive when we are hyperventilating.

Based on this theory, Dr. Buteyko offered know-how to overcome snoring and sleep apnea. Instead of fighting with the body, which tries to stop breathing, we chose another option – to cooperate with the natural intelligence of the body and to learn how to breathe less voluntarily. This allows for maintaining a higher level of carbon dioxide.

When a person learns how to breathe through the nose 24/7 and keep his or her breathing gentle, the situation changes. Over-breathing is not present anymore, which means that carbon dioxide stays at an acceptable level. As a result, there is no risky situation, and there is no need for the body to come up with a defense mechanism against over-breathing by creating sleep apnea. As a result of improved respiration, sleep apnea gradually becomes weaker and finally stops. Farewell suffocation at night!

This is my personal experience. I’m forever grateful to Dr. Buteyko for helping me to stop this serious health issue. I feel blessed to have an opportunity to teach the Buteyko Breathing Method and help people to improve their breathing.

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