
MEthod

The Buteyko Method
The Buteyko breathing method is a set of functional breathing techniques, designed to not only improve performance and endurance in athletes and but also help manage symptoms of asthma, snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, panic attacks, and anxiety.
It uses something as simple as it is powerful - our breath.
The method addresses dysfunctional breathing patterns, helping open the sinuses to allow for better airflow and lowering heart rate to relax the nervous system. It aims at rebalancing the biochemistry via functional breathing exercises and re-establishing the natural biomechanics via diaphragmatic exercises by manipulating the way we breathe.
History
Dr Konstantin Buteyko (1923–2003) was a Ukranian born physician and a researcher. His initial research into breathing began in the early 1950s while he was working in Moscow. His interest in breathing and its physiological effects was inspired by his own health issues, as he suffered from chronic headaches and hypertension.
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He believed that many chronic illnesses, including asthma, hypertension, and other respiratory conditions, were caused by dysfunctional breathing patterns, specifically chronic hyperventilation or over-breathing.
He theorised that hyperventilation leads to an imbalance in the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, which in turn worsens health conditions.
​While working in a clinical setting, Buteyko observed that many patients suffering from chronic diseases were breathing excessively, or hyperventilating. He believed this disrupted the natural balance of gases in the blood, specifically by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, which is vital for oxygen absorption and the functioning of various bodily systems. Buteyko's hypothesis was that if patients could correct their breathing and retain more CO2, they could alleviate symptoms and even cure some chronic conditions. He began developing a series of exercises aimed at reducing breathing volume to restore the balance of oxygen and CO2 in the body and began testing it on patients with conditions such as asthma, hypertension, and sleep apnea. The results showed improvement in many cases, and Buteyko became convinced of the effectiveness of his method.
His first clinical trials in the 1960s at a hospital in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) showed success, but despite positive results, his ideas were met with skepticism by much of the medical community in the Soviet Union at the time. It wasn’t until decades later that the Buteyko Method gained more widespread recognition.
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In the 1980s and 1990s Buteyko’s method began gaining more international recognition, particularly in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Clinical trials conducted in Australia in the mid-1990s on asthma patients showed remarkable improvement, helping the method gain legitimacy in the eyes of the medical community.
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Buteyko continued to practice and teach his method until his death in 2003. He trained numerous practitioners who have gone on to teach and expand the method worldwide. One of them was my teacher - Patrick McKeown - who opened the first European Buteyko Clinic in Dublin.
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Today, the Buteyko Method is widely used as a complementary approach to managing asthma, anxiety, panic attacks, sleep apnea, and other respiratory issues. While it’s still considered alternative medicine, it has been embraced by people looking for non-pharmaceutical ways to manage chronic respiratory problems.
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Buteyko's ideas about breathing have inspired further research into the connection between breathing patterns and health, including the benefits of nasal breathing and controlled breathwork.​