Two hundred years ago asthma was considered a mild ailment. Having asthma generally meant having a long life free of other diseases. However, no one could explain how asthma prevented other ailments or why asthmatics lived longer than others. Today, we know that asthma is not an ordinary disease.
Bronchial spasm, the main component of asthma, acts as a protective mechanism, helping to maintain biological constants and important functions at near-normal levels.
We have also learned that asthma or bronchospasm cannot exist unless the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) level in the lungs is abnormally low. Since the metabolic and immune systems can function correctly only if the CO2 level is normal, the limit of the asthmatic’s CO2 level protects him or her and allows for a long and healthy life. It is this powerful defense mechanism that provides the asthmatic with an improved biological system. Evidently, bronchospasm is one way the organism has adapted to its environment.
Modern drug treatment for asthma is aimed at neutralizing this protective mechanism. The organism then fights back again and again with more intensive bronchospasms leading to a rapid deterioration of asthma from drug treatment. It is not possible to cure asthma by removing a protective mechanism like bronchospasm. Only when the condition responsible for the bronchial spasm is removed, can asthma be reversed.
K.P. Buteyko, MD-PhD
The Breathing Center offers online courses, books, CDs and DVDs educating people regarding Dr. Buteyko’s approach to asthma. Buteyko Breathing is a natural, holistic, and safe method that helps to restore normal breathing without compromising the protective mechanism of the bronchial spasm.