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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

hyperventilation and the Inclined Bed Therapy Method

If you control your breathing and deliberately slow it down, your heart rate will also slow down. anxiety, apprehension, worrying, fear etc can have a direct on heart rate.

The main circulation I.B.T. logic:

The theory behind Inclined bed therapy is that for every breath exhaled we release a tiny pulse of denser solutes back into the main arteries which gravity can act upon in favour of the circulation, which in turn affects the venous return and stroke volume in the heart. This will cause the heart to become more efficient at moving the blood around when we are on an inclined, and when walking. Standing still and sitting applies direct pressure to the vessels and surrounding muscle, ligaments and skin tissue and narrow the vessels so the heart backs up pressure ( a main cause of feinting)

Shallow Breathing
The same scenario also applies to rapid shallow breathing, we still release pulses of denser blood back into the main artery and after passing back through the heart these solutes are drawn down the artery but there are more of them, even though they are not as concentrated as when the lungs are fully inflated and deflated from slower deeper breathing. This serves to accelerate the heart and the respiration and I believe it is the main cause of asthma hyperventilation.

School Girl Asthma attack

While out walking the dogs, I came across 2 schoolgirls, one looking terrified and crying the other in hyperventilation having an asthma attack. She was in serious trouble. Right away, I said listen carefully, she nodded unable to talk and in distress. On breathing out count to 5 seconds before inhaling try to repeat this for each breath, which she did.

Within 2 minutes her breathing and presumably her heart rate had returned to normal, she became relaxed and the attack was ended. They both thanked me and with smiles wider than the grand canyon walked calmly as if nothing had happened.

Before reading the following article, apply the density changes released by exhaling to the explanations given in it.

Also take into account the action of breathing into a paper bag for hyperventilation. Here it would serve to eliminate the density changes in the lungs due to breathing the same volume of moist air in and out of the lungs so that no pulses of solutes will enter the main artery. Result: breathing would return to base line rapidly.

http://www.asthmacare.ie/hyperventilation-and-asthma.pdf

I can also hear my own heart beating while laying on an inclined and have experimented many times slowing down my breathing by releasing a longer slower exhale and counting to 5 seconds or more before inhaling. I can hear the changes in my own heart rate within 30 seconds.

Normally, while sleeping on an inclined bed the heart rate slows down and the respiration rate slows down significantly by 10-12 beats per minute and 4-5 breaths per minute, which is a huge difference to a person sleeping flat. The same changes took place in 2 sleeping dogs (who didn’t mind a stethoscope) on an incline.

While awake however, as previously stated, we can consciously and subconsciously alter our breathing and the angled bed will make use of the number of breaths we take either way. Even subtle changes in breathing can start a steady acceleration of the heart, which in turn inflates and deflates the lungs quicker in a vicious circle, but now you know how to intervene and reverse this.

So please experiment with this method of controlled respiration and do come back and let us know what you find.

You can also purchase a professional stethoscope from ebay as I did for a few dollars / pounds, so you can observe the changes more effectively.

Check out the new forum on http://www.inclinedbedtherapy.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

THE THEORY BEHIND THE BUTEYKO METHOD

The Buteyko theory is that the basic cause of asthma is habitual, hidden over-breathing (literally, taking in too much air when breathing). The treatment is based on bringing the breathing to normal levels and thus eradicating over-breathing (hyperventilation) and reversing the need for the body's defence mechanisms. These defence mechanisms, according to the theory, include spasm of the airways, mucus production (in the chest, nose, throat and ears), and inflammation (swelling) of the bronchial walls.

The Buteyko method's message is that when asthma sufferers learn to alter the volume of air they habitually inhale, their asthma attacks can be significantly reduced and the use of asthma drugs and apparatus can be reduced or entirely eliminated.

It is possible that the economies of the industrialised countries worldwide could save billions of dollars spent annually on asthma drug subsidies and hospitalisation, if their health administrators took notice of the advances in asthma treatment pioneered by Professor Buteyko.

The method is on record as having benefited 100,000 patients in Russia, and it is officially recognised by the Russian Government. Professor Buteyko's experimentation and his documented clinical trials on patients in Russia indicate that the great majority of asthma sufferers over four years old can be significantly relieved by the method (younger children may find it more difficult to learn), and any individual on asthma drug treatment can reduce that drug intake by 90% or more in the majority of cases.

Outside Russia, the first Buteyko clinical trials on asthma sufferers were completed in 1995 in Australia by Associate Professor Charles Mitchell of the Queensland University Medical School, Dr Simon Bowler of the Mater Hospital and Ms Tess Graham of the Buteyko Group. The results of the first half of the trial, which were presented to a conference of the Thoracic Society in Hobart on 30 March 1995, supported the findings of Professor Buteyko, and a press release at the time made the general findings public.

The Buteyko method is taught in all capital cities and many country areas of Australia, as well as in New Zealand, Europe and the United States [see contact details at the end of this article].

With more than 10,000 people having learnt the method in Australia as at mid-1999, the success rate continues to be very high. Asthma sufferers attending the clinics have found that, after learning and practising the method, they can reduce their use of relievers and preventers to varying significant degrees.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the post, will look in to Professor Buteyko and is regimen

Andrew